RWBY Puppy!
by Kriss1989
Summary: Faunus Ruby AU! See what life would be like for Ruby if she was a dog faunus instead of a human. Warning: Will deal with issues of mixed families and minority status. Don't read if you aren't comfortable with these subjects.
1. The Life of a Young Pup

Yang looked at her new baby sister, Ruby. Being only two, Yang didn't understand a lot, but that didn't mean she couldn't notice things. Turning to her daddy, she put her hands on top of her head, pointing upwards. "Ears."

"That's right Yang, Ruby has ears just like her mommy. You on the other hand have daddy ears." and with that Taiyang flicked his daughters ears, causing her to giggle.

* * *

Yang looked back at the wagon she was pulling, Ruby curled up and sleeping inside. It made sense now, why Ruby had those ears and Yang didn't. At age five she was old enough to know what a faunus was, and also old enough to realize she wasn't one. Summer Rose, Ruby's mommy, was not Yang's mommy. Yang's mommy had left her with Daddy shortly after she was born, and Yang was determined to find her. She wanted a normal family, and that meant she needed a mommy and a daddy who were both human. Not a faunus mommy. The other kids in class said the faunus were weird, and Yang didn't want to be weird.

She didn't want Ruby to be weird either, and stop chewing on things and running around in circles all the time. And getting sick if she had chocolate so they couldn't have any in the house until she was old enough to know better. And Yang wanted her to stop sniffing things all the time. Yang was sure if they found her real mommy, she would help Ruby be normal and stop being a faunus. Ruby wouldn't want to be weird and get picked on all the time for being weird after all.

Yang was thrilled to spot the old house from the photo. That joy quickly turned to fear though, as glowing red eyes appeared from within...

* * *

Taiyang had just sat reading the morning paper, drinking his coffee, when the yelling started upstairs.

"Ruby! You chewed on my new shirt! Tomorrow is the first day of school and it's already ruined!"

"I'm sorry Yang! It was just so stretchy and fun!"

"Oh my god Ruby, why can't you just be normal instead of a faunus? I know you're an animal but can't you at least act human?"

Taiyang almost choked on his drink at that last part. He knew he'd put off explaining things about Ruby to Yang for a while now, figuring she was too young to understand. Now, hearing just what his seven year old daughter was already saying, he wondered if he had waited too long. Hopefully having the talk now wouldn't be too late, and he could repair any damage done to Yang's perceptions of faunus. How the hell had his little girl been tainted so much already?

* * *

"She beat up how many kids?" Taiyang asked, looking out the door of the principal's office where Yang sat on one of those uncomfortable chairs awaiting her fate.

"Six. And the weird thing is, Yang used to get along with them very well. Especially young Cardin, the two were practically best friends." Mrs. Mellon said, rubbing her eyes as she felt a migraine coming on. She clearly hadn't expected to have to deal with this sort of thing on the first day of school. "This is her first offense, but we do have a no fighting policy, and Yang admitted to throwing the first punch. In light of that I have no choice but to suspend her for the week. Her class work will be available for pickup after school until seven in the afternoon, and she will be required to finish all her class work."

"I understand. I'll talk to her about this, see what brought it on." he said, getting up, but then hesitated. "Um, about my other daughter, Ruby. Has there been any sort of problems or..."

"Not that I've heard of. I'm sure she's doing just fine. Stop worrying about her and see to Yang. I think she needs the attention more right now."

Nodding, Taiyang motioned for his namesake to follow, unsure of how to broach the topic. Finally, half way home, he decided on a very simple "Why?"

"I told them what you said about faunus not being animals, but just people who were different. They said you were lying. And then at recess they started calling Ruby names, so I punched them. A lot. Cardin cried like a baby." Yang said in a rather proud tone of voice for somebody in so much trouble.

"For future reference, you are supposed to get a teacher for this stuff. They're trained in how to handle it." Taiyang said with a stern face, before breaking out into a grin. "But on the other hand, I'm proud of you for sticking up for your sister."

"Well, we're family. You said so, right Dad?"

"Right."

* * *

"Yang, do you know where Dad is? He was supposed to be home yesterday." Ruby asked, ears flattened against her head showing she was sad, but not pulled back so she wasn't too upset. Yang had to admit, those ears made it very easy to tell what Ruby was feeling. An especially handy trick for playing old maid with the twelve year old girl.

"Eh, I'm sure he's just busy again." was Yang's reply as she walked out and got the mail. "Oh hey, he sent us a letter! And a package!" She held up the small tube, though knowing their dad the size meant nothing.

"Oooh! Something form dad!" In a burst of rose petals, Ruby was clinging to her sisters back, trying to grab the tube for herself. Ever sense she had discovered her speed semblance, Yang had been finding it harder and harder to keep Ruby from snatching things from her, especially food when Yang wasn't paying attention.

Rolling her eyes a little, Yang gave the tube a good shake. Out popped a little ball of black fuzz that rolled around a small bit. As Yang and Ruby leaned in close, it suddenly poofed out into a small black and white dog that yipped at them.

Ruby's reaction was immediate. "Puppy!" Getting down on all fours, she and the dog started sniffing each other and batting lightly at each other, looking as happy as can be.

Opening the letter, Yang began to read out loud. "Dear girls, I'm sorry that I can't come home right now, but work has been more involved than expected. Again I am sorry that I wasn't able to attend your twelfth birthday Ruby, but I figured my birthday present would make up for it. Don't read the rest until you open the gift...Surprise! It's that puppy you always wanted! His name is Zwei. Enclosed with him is all the stuff you need to take care of him. Feed him half a can twice a day, he's not big enough for a full can each meal yet." Giving the tube another shake, out came a small fuzzy dog bed, a food dish and water bowl, a couple dozen cans of dog food, a new can opener, and several dog toys including a

"Ball!" Ruby shouted as she and Zwei chased after it. "Ball ball ball ball ball ball ball ball ball ball ball ball aww Zwei got it."

Yang couldn't help but laugh. It had been a while since she'd last played fetch with Ruby. Well, now she'd have a new friend to do it with.

* * *

"Ruby, you're here! You're going to love Signal, trust me!" Yang said, smiling. "What's with the hood though? You can't see your"

"Shhh!" Ruby pleaded, slapping a hand over Yang's mouth.

Yang understood then, and really wished she didn't. Signal was a fresh start for Ruby. As far as they knew nobody else from her old school would be joining her here. It was a clean slate.

Nobody had to know she was a faunus.

* * *

"What do you mean she was arrested?" Taiyang asked, pounding his fist on the secretary's desk.

"I'm sorry sir, but White Fang paraphernalia was found inside your daughter's locker during a random search. The police think she might have been involved in a recent attack in the area."

"Involved in a? She's turning fifteen in two weeks. She's not even fifteen years old and they think she's a terrorist? That's it, I'm going down there right now to sort this out."

* * *

The drive home was in very awkward silence. He'd managed to work things out with the police, provide an alibi, and walk out with Ruby. He hadn't even tried to get her things back, except for Crescent Rose. That, at least, wasn't White Fang related. Still, there was one thing weighing on his mind. The fact that the alibi was a lie. Ruby hadn't been home eating dinner with the family that night. She had been out late, saying she was looking at CDs with her friends. Now, however, he had to really wonder. He hated doing it, but he knew he had to ask. "Ruby, are you"

He didn't get to finish. "No Dad, I'm not a White Fang." she said angrily, silence resuming. Subdued, she continued after a minute. "I wanted to be for a bit, I admit. On really bad days. But that bomb, I mean there were kids there. And the other stuff I've been hearing. They just hate humans so much." Ruby slumped back, clearly disappointed. "They aren't the good guys anymore." There were tears in her eyes. "Why can't there be faunus good guys?"

Thinking back to several years ago when the White Fang had been peaceful protestors and defenders of faunus, Taiyang could sympathize. This more extremist behavior had only been around for a couple of years, but it was escalating badly. Still, he could understand why Ruby might cling to the idea of the old Fang, and feel like the new stuff was being exaggerated, or that maybe the humans deserved it for how they treated faunus. But indiscriminate stuff like bombing a shopping center..."Ruby, there are faunus heroes. Your mom was one, and you're going to be one too right?"

"Tell that to the TV." The rest of the ride home was in painful silence.

* * *

Ruby was feeling a little sad. Yang would be leaving for Beacon tomorrow. Wanting to take her mind off of the fact that she wouldn't see Yang for a long while, Ruby walked into her favorite dust shop. The old man smiled and waved at her. The owner of Dust Til Dawn was very faunus friendly, one of the reasons Ruby frequented his shop. Smiling and waving back, she went to the back to check out the newest issues of Weapon Monthly, and The Hunter Review. Last months issue promised an in depth look at various scope options for primary and secondary rifles in WM, and THR had apparently managed to get an interview with THE Professor Ozpin. Putting on a pair of headphones and listening to some dubstep, Ruby began reading up on professional opinions on her preferred model of scope, not hearing the door chime ring as a certain orange haired criminal and his crew sauntered in...


	2. The Sixth Worst Partnership

**AN: Rewatching the first couple of episodes, I have found lots of little details, such as Ruby hesitating before and after the first cookie, saying she prefers weapons to people, her only writing one letter to all her friends, and that she had no idea how to socialize to the point of literally having to ask for help suddenly take on a new light and context with her as a faunus. I'm actually slightly disturbed by how little work I had to do in some scenes.**

**Also, we are back people! Future updates should not take anywhere near as long. The long wait was due to a combination of school, work, and writers block. Dedicated to Monty.**

Ruby's ears were down as Miss Goodwitch continued her lecture. "If it were up to me you'd be sent home with a pat on the back," Ruby's ears perked up at that. Glynda must have noticed as she immediately scowled harder "And a slap on the wrist." She accented the point by slapping her crop on the desk right next to Ruby's hands, causing her to pull them back quickly with a small yelp as her ears went fully back. "But, there is someone here who would like to meet you."

And with that the grey haired man standing in the hall stepped in, probably trying for a dramatic reveal. Ruby figured it would have worked better if she hadn't been able to see him in the dark hallway, smell his coffee, and most importantly smell those delicious, delicious peanut butter cookies he was holding a tray full of. In fact, between the cookies and the coffee, she couldn't smell him at all. She wondered if the guy did that on purpose. Also, he looked very familiar...

"Ruby Rose." the man stated, showing he at least knew her name. Leaning in closely, Ruby was once again subjected to somebody staring at her; a situation she was all too familiar with. What she was not used to was the man's comment. "You have silver eyes."

"Uhhhh..." in all honesty, she had no idea how to react. Most people who stared commented on her ears, not her eyes. And it never sounded like a compliment. At least not from the humans.

"Where did you learn to do this?" he asked, indicating a video of her fight against the thugs.

"At Signal Academy." she replied. She hoped he believed her, it wouldn't be the first time police had discounted a faunus attending an actual academy and just assumed they were Fangs. Though his outfit didn't look remotely within an officer's budget. Maybe not even the police chief.

"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" The man's tone was difficult to place. It sounded like a weird mix of incredulousness, concern, and...pride?

"Well, one teacher in particular." Now that she was looking closer, the guy did radiate authority, but he didn't swagger like a cop. He reminded her strongly of her uncle. Her train of thought was derailed however when he placed the tray of cookies in front of her. Hesitantly, she snatched one. Stuffing it in her mouth, she ate quickly while looking at the two humans nervously, but neither of them made any move. It wasn't a trap. Ruby quickly started wolfing down the cookies. The amount of aura she had used in the fight had burned quite a few calories.

"It's just, I've only ever seen one scythe wielder of that caliber before. A dusty old crow."

"Mash much munmul." Quickly swallowing, she tried again. "Sorry. That's my Uncle Qurow! He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing. And now I'm all hwaa chara hiaa choowaa!" she shouted while making the appropriate poses. If the guy knew her uncle, he couldn't be bad.

"I see." The man took a seat across from her. "And what's an adorable little girl like you doing in a school that trains warriors?"

Adorable? Nobody outside her family ever thought she looked cute before. "I want to be a huntress. I only have two more years at Signal Academy, and then I'm going to apply to Beacon. See my sister is going there to be a huntress and I want to go there to be a huntress, cause my mom was a huntress and she always said we should help people in need so why not make a career out of it you know?" Ruby knew she was rambling, but that was because she had figured out who was sitting across from her and was feeling rather flustered. Glynda's look proved she was not amused.

"I see, and why do YOU want to be a huntress?" he asked, getting to the heart of the matter.

"I want to help people, and prove that faunus can be the good guys." Ruby stated more calmly, having regained control.

"Do you know who I am?"

"You're Professor Ozpin, the headmaster at Beacon."

"Hello." he said as if this was the start of the whole conversation.

"A pleasure to meet you." Ruby replied in kind. If he wanted to be odd, she wasn't going to argue with him.

"So, you want to attend my school?"

"More than anything in the world." Ruby was slightly on edge now. She hadn't heard anything bad about Ozpin before, but his line of questioning was making her feel a pit in her stomach. It almost sounded like he was trying to convince her not to go to Beacon.

Looking over to Glynda, who only rolled her eyes and sighed in defeat, Ozpin turned back with a smile. "Well, alright then."

Ruby was stunned. That couldn't possibly mean what she was hoping it meant could it?

* * *

"I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me!" Yang shouted, hugging Ruby with...well not all her might, that would have crushed her, but with a good sized chunk of it at least.

"Pleesh shtap." Ruby slurred, lungs slightly compressed and struggling to keep her hood up. As Yang released her, she took a sharp breath of air and adjusted her hood.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I'm so proud of you. Getting into Beacon two years early? You're going to be the bee's knees."

"I don't want to be the bee's knees. I don't want to be any kind of knee. I want to be a normal girl with normal knees." Ruby shifted uncomfortably. "I don't want to be, special."

Yang came in for a supportive hug. She could tell Ruby really needed it right now. "But you are special. You're my sister, you've got an awesome weapon, and everyone is going to love you. Trust me." This tender moment was interrupted by a young blond boy rushing past, clearly having an upset stomach. "Well, at least you're doing better than vomit boy over there."

"I think I'd have to be dead to be doing worse than him." Ruby remarked with a smirk, feeling better.

That mood was instantly dashed however by the latest news bulletin. The White Fang had attacked a peaceful faunus rights protest. Feeling Yang give her hand a squeeze of support, Ruby returned it, if only halfheartedly. Glynda Goodwitch's speech about the era of peace they were in and needed to help defend as hunters felt hollow to Ruby in light of the news broadcast she had interrupted. The White Fang had attacked peaceful faunus. They weren't just attacking humans anymore, but anyone that didn't agree with their violent methods. Where had they gone so wrong? How was this a time of peace?

Seeking to distract herself, Ruby took a look at the view from the airship. "You can see Signal Academy from here! Home's not that far away."

Coming over, Yang smiled. "Beacon's going to be our home for a while. Don't worry, things will be great!"

"...oh my god Yang you have vomit on your shoe!"

"What the? Oh gross get it off!"

"Eww Yang get away! Oh god the smell!"

"Sorry! Augh, vomit boy is dead for this!"

* * *

After having washed her shoes, Yang met back up with Ruby, passing vomit boy still living up to his namesake despite being back on land. Yang was really tempted to pound him flat, but figured he was already suffering enough. Standing with her little sister and looking at the grand architecture of one of the most, if not the most, prestigious hunting academies in the world, Yang actually felt a little impressed. Not intimidated, impressed. She wasn't nervous in the least, no sir. "Well, here we are! What do you think?"

Ruby however was paying attention to something other than the vista. "Oh my gosh! Yang, that kid has a collapsible staff! Gasp! And she has a fire sword!"

"Woah, sis, calm down. They're just weapons."

"Just weapons? They're an extension of ourselves, they say a lot about who we are!" Ruby responded, conviction shining in her eyes.

Yang was a little puzzled. She'd heard the 'extension of yourself' bit in reference to controlling and handling the weapon, not in relation to a person's actual character or personality. "So what about your own weapon, don't you like it?"

Unfolding her masterwork, Ruby cuddled with it like it was a plush toy. "Of course I love Crescent Rose, but I like seeing new weapons. It's like meeting new people...only better." Weapons didn't call you fur face, animal, or mutt after all.

Seeing her sister's mood start taking a turn for the worse, Yang preempted the angst by yanking Ruby's hood forward, covering her face. Grim train of thought derailed, Yang decided to try thinking positive. "Hey, come on. I'm sure you'll make all kinds of friends here."

Pulling her hood back up, Ruby looked puzzled. "But why would I need friends when I've got you?"

"Well, see, the thing is," Yang felt a little guilty, but hoped this would help Ruby at least try to socialize "my friends are kinda already here and we made plans earlier so bye!" Rushing off to join her friends from Signal, she left Ruby spinning from how fast she was going. Hopefully if Ruby was left on her own for a bit she'd actually try making friends.

Ruby on the other hand, stumbling about all dizzy, had several other concerns. "Wait, Yang where are you going? Are we meeting up later somewhere? Should we meet at our dorm rooms? Do we have dorm rooms? I don't know what I'm doing." That last thought was only punctuated all the harder when she tripped over backwards, sending herself and the contents of a luggage trolley sprawling.

"What are you doing? Do you have any idea how much damage you could have caused?" a white haired girl shouted at Ruby as she lay sprawled amidst the suitcases.

"Sorry." Ruby apologized as she adjusted her hood so it was still on and handed the first case over to the girl, intending to help clean up her mess. The look on the girl's face as she cracked it open to check the contents made Ruby think for one panicked moment that she had broken something, and less than a minute into her stay at Beacon.

"Sorry? This is dust, mined and refined from the Schnee quarry!" she shouted, and Ruby winced harder. A suitcase just full of dust would be expensive.

"Ahhhh." She wanted to convey how sorry she was, but Ruby couldn't find the words. Also, something was bothering her nose.

The girl apparently mistook her hesitation for ignorance on the subject. "What are you, brain dead? Dust! Fire, lightning, energy! What do you have to say for yourself?" she asked, punctuating her speech by shaking a vial of dust at Ruby on the word dust and for each variety, as if to emphasize how important it was.

What she had failed to notice, and Ruby only just realized, was that the stopper on the bottle had become stingily loose after the crash, and so each shake was adding small amounts of dust into the air. Which was all too unfortunately already filled with dust. Ruby's sensitive nose couldn't take it anymore. She sneezed, creating an explosion which somehow included ice and lightning, sending the vial flying away.

As Ruby recovered from, well, exploding she was relieved to see that the other girl's aura had protected her from the miniature blast. Her words however hit with just as much force. "See, this is exactly the sort of thing I was talking about!"

"Sorry!" Ruby had to admit that while the white haired girl had added more dust to the air by accident, it was Ruby's crashing and sneezing that had caused all the damage, or for there to even be dust in the air to begin with. It really was her fault when you got down to it.

"And what are you doing here anyway? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?" the girl continued, as if she hadn't heard Ruby's apology.

"Well that's because"

"This isn't your normal combat school you know." the girl continued, and Ruby realized that she really wasn't listening, but was in a full on rant ignoring anything Ruby was saying. "This isn't all sparring and practice. We're here to fight monsters! So just watch where you're going!"

"Hey, I bet I've got more fighting experience than you princess!" Ruby shouted back, and winced a bit internally as she realized how harsh that probably sounded. Her instincts had pegged all the shouting and posing as a dominance challenge, and she'd 'countered' without thinking. It was a dumb instinct, and Ruby knew it tended to make any argument she was in worse, especially if she was actually in the wrong. She was working on it, but it was something really hard to get a handle on. Still, it was less blatantly embarrassing than when she chased cars back when she was six.

"It's heiress actually." a new voice interjected, bringing the argument to a halt. The newcomer was a tall girl with long black hair worn straight, accented with a large bow on top. Ruby had to admit she liked the look, but that may have been only because it reminded her of her own ears. Looking at the vial in her hands, apparently she had picked it up after it flew away, the girl continued "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee corporation, the largest suppliers of dust energy propellant in the world."

Ruby blanched a little and unconsciously made sure her hood was well in place. The Schnee's feelings towards faunus was very well known, and she had just upset the heir apparent to the financial mega empire. Weiss, on the other hand, seemed much happier. "Thank you. Finally some recognition."

"The same company infamous for its controversial labor decisions and questionable business partners." the new girl continued, not missing a beat as she smirked at Weiss.

Weiss, sputtering incoherent rage, grabbed her vial back and stormed off, servants having collected and reloaded the rest of her luggage which they were now transporting. Ruby was glad to see her go. "Well I don't think my first day here can get any worse. So, who are" Her question trailed off as she turned and noticed the girl was already walking away. "And I've been ditched again." Whining a little, Ruby flopped onto her back, wondering if coming here was worth it if everyone was just going to yell at her and ditch her...again.

It was then that a new figure appeared above her, hand outstretched. "Hey, need a hand?"

Smiling a little, Ruby took then hand up, and then noticed who it was. "Vomit boy?"

* * *

"...I'm just saying, motion sickness is a more serious issue than people realize." the boy finished.

Ruby had to admit he had made some very good points, and it was a legitimate medical concern. Talking about it for half an hour was a bit of overkill, but still valid points were made. "Ah, yeah, sorry about that. It's just that vomit boy was the first thing that came to mind."

"Oh yeah? Well, how would you like it if I called you crater face?"

"Honestly, it's a lot better than what I'm usually called." Ruby winced a little, memories surfacing briefly.

"Wait, what? Who are those jerks? You're way too cute to let that stand." the boy asked, looking honestly upset.

"You, think I'm cute?" This was the second time in two days people had called her cute. Well, 'adorable' in Professor Ozpin's case, but same principle.

"Of course I do! You're very cute uh, um, uhhhh we forgot to introduce ourselves didn't we?"

Giggling a little at the situation, she responded "Ruby, Ruby Rose."

"Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it." he supplied, trying to sound smooth.

And in Ruby's opinion, failing. Hard. "Do they?"

"Well they will. At least my mom says...anyway that's not important." Jaune quickly cuts himself off before he says anything else embarrassing. "The point is, yes you're cute Ruby."

"Thanks." Feeling awkward and having no idea what to do, she improvised. "Sooo I've got this." Pulling Crescent Rose from out behind her back, she spun it into melee form, showing off her prized possession.

"Woah! ...is that a scythe?"

"It's also a customizable high impact sniper rifle." Ruby stated proudly. Seeing Jaune's confusion, she explained "It's also a gun."

"Oh...I've got this." Jaune said, pulling out a rather normal looking sword. Seeing Ruby was actually interested, he continued "I've also got a-" fumbling with the shield switching between scabbard and shield mode while he fumbled around trying to get it under control. "-a shield."

"Sooo, does it do anything?"

"Well, the shield collapses, so when I get tired of carrying it I can just put it away."

Ruby, with a good knowledge of physics, noticed something wrong with that idea. "Wouldn't it weigh the same?"

"Yeah it does." Jaune admitted, his disappointment blatantly apparent.

"Well, don't feel bad. I may have went overboard in designing Crescent Rose." Ruby said, trying to make him feel better.

"Wait, you designed that?" Jaune was quite frankly amazed that the cute little girl in front of him could design something so deadly and amazing.

"Yeah, every student at Signal forges their own weapons. Didn't you make yours?" Ruby asked. She had assumed that making your own weapon was the standard; if it wasn't did that give her an advantage or not?

"Um, no. The sword was my great grandfather's, he used it during the war."

"Well...good for you! Not many people have an appreciation for the classics!" Ruby tried her best to cheer Jaune up. Since the only two reasons that she could think of for somebody still using something that old were that it was either so incredibly well made it stacked up against modern arms, or he was too poor to buy a new one. Judging by his lack of enthusiasm, it was sadly probably the latter.

"Yah, classics. Soooo, where are we going?"

Ruby stopped, and realized that the two of them had been just wandering around an unfamiliar campus for half an hour with no idea where they were or where they are supposed to go. "Oh son of a bi-"

* * *

"Well that's my sister later Jaune!" Ruby felt a little bad for ditching the guy, but she really had to have words with Yang. Also her tolerance for the guy had been stretched a little during their ten minute search for where they were supposed to go. Jaune was nice and all but his personality could get a little...grating if you hung out with him for too long.

"Oh hey Ruby! Made any friends?" Yang asked as her sister...stomped over to her. Okay, probably not a good sign.

"You mean after you ditched me and I exploded?" Ruby demanded, pointing an accusing finger at Yang.

Yang was surprised to say the least. "Woah, a major meltdown already?" Ruby was usually a lot calmer than that.

"No, I mean I literally exploded. There was fire and lightning, and I think some ice..." Ruby trailed off, realizing how ridiculous this was sounding.

"Oh my goodness, are you telling jokes now?" Yang was relieved that a joke was all that was going on.

"I'm not joking. It was really loud, and there was this girl who kept on yelling at me, and she was really mad, and loud, and even after I apologized she wouldn't stop yelling and I just wanted her to stop-"

"You!" Weiss shouted from where she had snuck up on the girls. From her tone it was all too obvious she knew what was being talked about.

"Oh god it's happening again!" Ruby shouted, jumping into Yang's arms for protection.

Weiss didn't miss a beat despite this extreme reaction. "You're lucky we weren't blown of the cliff or something with that stunt you pulled!"

"Oh my god you really exploded." Yang froze in place as her brain tried to figure out how that had happened.

"Could you please stop yelling? It was an accident." Ruby pleaded. All the shouting was really starting to hurt her ears.

"Do you really want me to stop yelling that badly?" Weiss asked.

"Yes, really." Ruby blinked as Weiss pulled out a pamphlet on dust use and shoved it in her face. Weiss then went into a legal disclaimer so thick yet fast that Ruby was thoroughly lost. "Uhhhh..."

"Listen, do you want to make it up to me?" Weiss was clearly exasperated, or maybe saying so many words so fast had left her a little light headed.

"Sure." Ruby really didn't want a Schnee mad at her. That could cause so much trouble, the Schnee hated faunus and had the power to acutely display that hate using any faunus that upset them as financial target practice.

Thrusting forward the pamphlet once more, Weiss delivered her ultimatum. "Read this, and never speak to me again."

Slipping out of Yang's grasp, Ruby quickly snatched the pamphlet. "Sure. Let's never see each other ever again. It was great not meeting you." She was rather relieved. Crisis averted.

Yang however, was oblivious to the full extent of what was going on. "Oh come on, it just sounds like you got off on the wrong foot. Maybe you could give Ruby another chance?"

"Yang no." Ruby whispered, upset that her sister had no read on the situation. It was already resolved, there was no reason for Yang to go stirring it back up.

Weiss seemed to lighten up all of the sudden. "Well sure, we could paint each others nails, try on new clothes together, and gossip about cute boys like blondy over there." she noted, thumb jerking in Jaune's direction.

Ruby was stunned. "What, really?"

"No not really! Jeez." Weiss muttered recriminations against Ruby's intelligence as she walked off. Mutterings that Ruby's enhanced hearing could pick up perfectly.

"Wow, what a biiiiiiiiiig jerk. Yes, just the biggest jerk." Yang groused, a slight glance at Ruby her only outward indication she noticed her almost slip. "I mean really, what was her deal?"

"Yang, that was Weiss Schnee." Ruby quietly explained. "As in, Schnee Schnee."

"Oh." Yang resolved then to keep an eye on this Weiss. Nobody messes with her baby sister while she was around to do anything about it. And if there was one thing the Schnee were known for, it was messing with faunus. Or having lots money. Or their vast dust empire. Or...okay they were famous for a lot of things. Yang's main concern right now was that a Schnee hated her sister.

* * *

"Is it just me or was Professor Ozpin's speech a little...disturbing?" Ruby asked as she adjusted her knit cap a bit. Done up like Zwei's face, the ears on the hat covered her actual ears, with the excuse that she found the design cute. The fact that she also had a puppy pillow also helped maintain cover...along with just being adorable. In fact, if Dad had let her, she'd have bought those paw print pajamas as well, even if they were a little pricy.

"Eh, he was just making sure we knew what we were in for." Yang shrugged it off pretty easily. "Plus, now it's like a big old slumber party! Even if it's going to be for just one night, that's pretty fun."

"Yeah but I doubt Dad would approve of all the boys." Ruby noted as she pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen and started writing.

"I do." Yang noted, unabashedly and obviously checking out the various guys, a few of which started showing off. The skinny guy, Jaune if she remembered right, then walked by in footie pajamas, killing her fun. How a gigantic dork like that made it into Beacon she wasn't sure, but she was kind of glad he did. Ruby could use as many friends as she could get. "So, Sis, what ch'u writin?"

"A letter to the gang back at Signal, telling them all about Beacon so far." Ruby responded, hoping Yang wouldn't question why she needed only one letter if she was writing to all her friends.

Thankfully, Yang was oblivious. "Aww, that's so sweet!" Her reward was a pillow to the face.

"Shut up Yang, I didn't get to take my friends with me like you did." Ruby growled a little, before reigning it in. "All my friends are back at Signal."

"Well what about Jaune? He's...nice. There you go, plus one friend! That's a one hundred percent increase!" Yang beamed, flashing a thumbs up.

"I'm pretty sure the Schnee counts as a negative friend. Back to zero." Ruby sighed as she flopped on her back and stared at the ceiling.

"There's no such thing as a negative friend. You just made one friend and one enemy...do you want me to break her legs?" Yang teased...hopefully. She had a tendency to be overprotective of Ruby.

Ruby's elegant response this time was the puppy pillow. Before the fight could escalate however, she noticed something. "That girl over there."

"What, is she hot?" Yang asked, following Ruby's gaze, seeing a girl with long black hair, black pjs, and a black hair bow sitting next to a candelabra and reading. Yang had to admit, she looked pretty good.

"I wouldn't know that. No, she stood up for me against Weiss earlier." Ruby explained.

"Well lets go say hello then!" Yang suggested, pulling her sister up to walk over.

* * *

Blake had to keep from looking up too early as the two girls approached her. She wasn't sure at what range human senses would have registered them, so she decided to wait until the two of them had come to a stop. Looking up from her book she could see it was the girl from the explosion earlier this morning, and the girl that had been rather obvious in checking out the male half of the hall. With a small sigh she asked "Yes, can I help you?"

"Um, I just wanted to thank you for your help earlier." the small one said, rubbing the back of a dog shaped cap, looking very nervous. "My name's Ruby but you can call me crater...just call me Ruby."

"What are you doing?" the blond hissed at her counterpart, barely loud enough for Blake's enhanced hearing to catch.

"I don't know, help me." was Ruby's response, and...was that a whine at the end?

"Right so, I'm Yang." the blond said out loud, unaware that Blake could hear the whole slightly pathetic exchange. "What's your name?"

"Blake." If she ignored them, maybe they'd leave her alone.

"...soooo I like your bow." Yang tried, dashing Blake's hopes. "It goes great with your...pajamas."

Clearly neither of these two were masters of social graces. "Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me, I was in the middle of reading a book." She got blank stares in return. "Which I would like to get back to reading." More blank stares. "As soon as you leave."

Yang finally seemed to get it. "Ah right, sorry. Just wanted to say thanks for looking out for my sister. Let's go Ruby."

Her sister, who seriously looked nothing like Yang, on the other hand stared a bit before asking "What's it about?"

"What?" Blake asked, confused.

"The book, what's it about? Does it have a name?" Ruby asked, genuine honest curiosity in her eyes.

The kind of wide eyed innocent look Blake didn't have the heart to ignore. "It's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control."

"That sounds...nice." Yang grimaced slightly at the end, showing that she really didn't appreciate darker literature.

Surprisingly, it was the small smiley one who wasn't phased. "That's neat. Yang used to read to me all the time as a little girl. Stories of knights and heroes and fighting monsters. It's part of the reason I want to be a huntress."

"What, hoping for a happy ending?" Blake asked in a slightly mocking tone.

"Well, I'm honestly hoping everyone does."

"The world doesn't work that way. It's not that simple." Blake hated herself slightly for being so harsh, but the kid needed to lose that childish attitude if she was going to make it.

Ruby's answer however surprised her. "Oh I am well aware there are problems, trust me on that. But isn't that why we're here? To make the world at least a bit better off than when we found it? It all adds up in the end, you know?"

Blake was, actually kind of impressed. It sounded similar to her own goals of crushing inequality. This...could actually be interesting. She'd heard that there were teams that formed at this school, maybe she should try and get on a team with this Ruby girl? She didn't seem too bad. Her sister on the other hand...

Any further conversation was interrupted however, as the Schnee stomped over. "What are you idiots doing? Some of us are trying to sleep!"

Thinking on it, Blake realized Atlas was a few hours ahead. Depending on if her sleep schedule had adjusted yet, it was probably even later by Weiss's internal clock, and since it was genuinely late that was saying something. Her simultaneous cry of "Not you again!" in perfect sync with Yang also looked like it could be entertaining.

"Guys, shhh, she's right, we should be quiet." Ruby said, realizing the heiress had a legitimate point.

The Schnee sneered at the person agreeing with her. "Oh now you're on my side?"

"I was always on your side...sort of." was Ruby's response.

"Sort of?" Weiss asked incredulously. "What is that even supposed to mean?"

Yang seemed to have no tolerance for Weiss's attitude. "Hey, you leave my sister alone!"

"No Yang! No breaking legs!" Ruby pleaded.

Realizing that breaking limbs was a bit much and that any fun was over, Blake blew out her candles. She had planned on enjoying the three humans stumbling back towards their sleeping bags, and with Weiss that happened. Ruby however just grabbed her sister's wrist and calmly lead her back to their sleeping bags with the sort of ease that only a sighted person could manage. Ruby was a faunus. A hidden faunus like Blake, but still, that just meant they had a lot more in common. Yang was clearly human, so was Ruby adopted? Was Yang? Intrigued, Blake settled back to sleep. She had to make sure she got on Ruby's team now. There was a lot of potential there.

* * *

Ruby ran like crazy through the forest after landing, hood pulled fully up. She had to admit the catapult scattering on Professor Ozpin's part had been brilliant. Between the air burst, the flood of new scents, and the lack of scent trails, any faunus like her that had enhanced smell had no chance of using their nose to cheat for a partner. 'Okay Ruby, let's focus. Who should you try for, beyond Yang? Well, Blake seemed nice...ish. And she likes reading, we could be best book buddies. Jaune is a nice enough guy, and he has to be highly skilled if he can get into Beacon with such a basic weapon. Really, I didn't get to meet anybody else, but I'm sure it's fine as long as it's not-'

Her internal monologue was cut off as she came face to face with Weiss Schnee, who looked just as shocked. And so the sixth worst partnership in the history of Beacon was formed.


	3. Schnee is another type of Grimm

**AN: Hey all! As this is a more slice-of-life style story than the series, I'm going to need more characters! While I do have an OC team, ARMS, that I plan to use I had a neat idea. I'm holding a little contest! I need 2 more teams. Therefore, I am holding an OC Team contest! Here's how it works: PM me your team, and if you win you'll be in the story! Simple as that. If you aren't interested skip the rest of this (really long) authors note and enjoy the chapter. Now then, for obvious reasons, I am going to lay down some ground rules as to what may and may not be submitted.**

**1) It must be a full 4 member team, no "we were one short because of class size" or "there was an extra person so we got five people instead" or anything like that.**

**2) No inappropriate team names. I highly doubt a teacher would officially name a group any of a large number of four letter words.**

**3) No more than one faunus per team. Faunus are not that common at Beacon from what we have seen in show.**

**4) No God Mode or Game Breaker semblances. Nothing like time manipulation, mind reading, summoning death, reserection, etc. Regenertion is allowed, but not to Wolverine/Deadpool/Ulquiora levels.**

**5) It is acceptable if your character does not know what their semblance is.**

**6) No financial heirs. We already have Weiss and my OC Alexandria for that. Too many would dilute the uniqueness.**

**7) Similarly, no ex-criminals or those that snuck into Beacon.**

**8) Minimum age is 17, but may be higher if a person enrolled later in life. You may not go younger.**

**9) No coppied characters from other series.**

**10) Your character does NOT need to be a reference to a historical/mythological/fairytale character. If you want them to be so that is fine, feel free to let me know, but it is not a requirement.**

**Finally, here is a basic format for submissions.**

**Team Name: Put the team name here. Ex. RWBY, JNPR, ARMS**

**Members: List all the members in order. Ex. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang. Jaune, Norra, Phyrra, Ren.**

**Leader: List the team leader here. First person in the team name doesn't need to be the leader, so this is important.**

**Specialty: List what the team is most famous for/most skilled at. You may list a maximum of two from the following list:**

**Assult - high speed attacks that slam into an enemy and take them down fast.**

**CQC - Specilize and accel at close quarters combat.**

**Defense - Able to neutralize damage quite effectively with armor, shields, dodges, and other defensive maneuvers.**

**Equipment - Carries high power/quality weapons and armor compared to other teams.**

**Investigation - experts in scouting, tracking, and uncovering information.**

**Mage - Expert dust users.**

**Marksmen - Highly skilled at long range attacks.**

**Support - Known for suplimentry skills and talents. Includes medical units.**

**Stealth - Highly skilled in moving about unnoticed and performing ambushes.**

**Tactical - Known for utilizing coordinated tactical maneuvers at a higher caliber than normal. Strategic geniuses.**

**Technician - Expert Semblance users.**

**Ex. RWBY - Tactical Technician**

**JNPR - Assult Defense**

**CRDL - Assult CQC**

**CVFY - CQC Marksmen**

**ARMS - Defense Equipment**

**After that, it's time to write up the members of your team. Characters should follow the following basic format:**

**Name: Put name here.**

**Age: 17+**

**Gender: Male, female, other (be really careful with that last one)**

**Species: human/faunus (subtype)**

**Weapon: What is it? How does it work?**

**Semblance: What ability does your character posess, and what manifests when they use it?**

**Physical description: what do they look like? What do they typically wear when not in school uniform?**

**History: Time for backstory!**

**Personality: What are they like?**

**Style: How do they tend to fight? What tactics do they use?**

**Team Relations: How do they feel about their teammates?**

**Stats: Stats are a rough estimate of power, ranging from E to S. please note this is a rough scale. In addition, this is for purposes of comparison to others on the same level (i.e. first years). An S rating like Yang's strength by first year standards might only be a B by third year. C is average, E is pathetic, A is Amazing, and S is Special. Please no more than one S per character, and even then unless it's really exceptional you should probably err on the side of A.**

**Strength - How hard do you punch? Do you even lift bro?**

**Endurance - Can you take a hit, or do you fold like a paper towel? Do you do a 5K or a 50K jog?**

**Speed - Are you as fast as the wind, or as slow as the cable guy?**

**Agility - Can you perform an arial triple pirouet? Or do you occasionally trip over your own feet?**

**Intelligence - Are you a genius, or do you need a lot of tutoring to scrape by?**

**Aura - Are you a massive font of the stuff, or do you barely flicker?**

**Dust - Are you able to smite your foes with elemental storms? Or do you have barely enough skill useing the stuff to shoot your dust rounds?**

**Other: Anything else you want to share? Neat little facts that don't fit elsewhere, design notes/inspiration, or what have you.**

**Just make one for each character, and you are good to go! The deadline is by Chapter 6, whenever that comes out.**

**And now, on with the story!**

* * *

Ruby stared at Weiss. Weiss stared at Ruby. The silence was thicker than Yang's attempt at making mashed potatoes. Then Weiss turned and started to walk away.

Ruby was quite fine with that. "Okay, maybe we can just pretend that we didn't run into each other. Neither of us wants the other as a partner." She breathed a sigh of relief, turning around to try looking for somebody else to partake up with. "Oh thank god, now I don't have to worry about dealing with the Schnee."

"Gee, thanks for that." Weiss said, startling Ruby. "So nice to know how you really feel."

"You came back?" Ruby asked, honestly quite surprised. "Why?"

"My only other option was this guy who was being rather creepy earlier in the locker room. I'd rather be stuck with you than some overly persistent creep that calls me 'snow angel' while invading my personal space." Weiss explained, stomping off in the other direction. "Between that and you, I think you're less objectionable."

"Ouch." Ruby said, following after. "Seriously, why do some guys think that stuff is okay? Makes me want to claw some faces off sometimes." There were after all quite a few guys who were aggressive in 'acquiring' faunus women, so Ruby was very much familiar with warning signs like that.

* * *

Weiss was surprised to hear the dork talk like that. "What do you know about that sort of thing?"

"A lot." the hooded dweeb replied. "I've run into...a lot of guys that felt I 'owed' them for not being assholes and treating me like a person. And more than a few wouldn't take a verbal no for an answer. If it weren't for Rose I'd probably have been a lot worse off."

"Who's Rose?" Weiss asked, not sure how to take this. The way Ruby was talking, it sounded like the guys might have tried...

Her thoughts were interrupted when the girl unfolded a massive scythe from behind her back. "Crecent Rose. My baby is the best thing that ever happened to me." Folding it back up, she continued. "Now I don't have to rely on my sister to keep me safe."

Weiss felt like she wanted to throw up. Being an heires, she hung around a higher class of society. Up there, you were afforded all sorts of respect. Nobody casually harasses someone so high up the social ladder. Ruby sounded like she came from much farther down. Down enough that she needed to be armed to stay safe. Not wanting to think more about something like this, Weiss quickened her pace. "Great. Just keep up, I'd hate to be late because of you."

"Never fear Weiss!" Ruby shouted from in front of Weiss.

"What the?" The heiress looked back and forward a few times,trying to figure out how Ruby had gotten in front of her so fast.

"See? I'm not slow." Ruby continued. "Weiss, just because I don't know how to deal with people doesn't mean I don't know how to deal with monsters." Pulling Weiss into a sort of half hug, she continued "Once you see what I can do, you'll be all "Wow that Ruby girl is really really really really cool...and I want to be her friend."" And with that she dashed off in a blurr of petals.

"Ruby!" Weiss called after her. It figures the dork would just run off, not a care in the world. "As fast as you are, you still accel at wasting time!" Hah, a good one. Who doesn't have a sense of humor now Winter?

Her musings were cut off by some growling from the brush, paired with glowing red eyes.

* * *

"What was that?" Ruby demanded, gesturing to the burning clearing. "That should have been easy!"

"Well maybe if you executed just the smallest bit of caution in the placement of your strikes, I wouldn't have set the forest on fire!" the Schnee accused.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ruby demanded.

"I'm just saying, I'm surprised somebody that talks so much would communicate so little in battle." Weiss explained.

"Well I'm sorry if you need so much help in a fight. Maybe you should have gone with that guy. He'd probably be willing to hold your hand. I can just do fine by myself!" Ruby shouted back.

"Maybe I should have." Weiss agreed. "I can't believe I thought you got where I was coming from. I mean you're what, sixteen?"

"Fifteen." Ruby responded, not sure where Weiss was going with this.

"Oh my god you're a kid." Weiss muttered. "I mean, I've been dealing with pushy guys after my families money since I was your age. What do you know about creepy guys?"

"I've been hit on since I was twelve. I have a whole year extra experience." Ruby argued. "And it wasn't a family fortune they were interested in, I can tell you that." Seeing Weiss's look of horror, Ruby continued "What's wrong princess? Shocked by what goes on outside your pretty princess palace?"

"Let's...let's just go." Weiss said, walking off, a look of disbelief still etched on her face.

Ruby followed after her, a mix of satisfaction and guilt plaguing her. While it felt good to give the Schnee a slice of reality and let her know what was what, the amount it seemed to affect her made Ruby feel bad for Weiss. Still, not too badly. After all, if Weiss knew Ruby was a faunus, all that sympathy would probably evaporate.

* * *

Weiss wanted to vomit. What sort of people were that, a twelve year old! Those sort of...freaks should be thrown out to the Grimm. Then again Grimm only hunt humans, and anybody like that clearly isn't human. Weiss knew that the world wasn't a very nice place. There were the White Fang for instance, going around like wild animals and killing anybody that wouldn't bow to their will, even other faunus. Then again it wasn't like their family acquired the organization as mortal enemies by being squeaky clean paragons of virtue. She knew she had to clean up her families reputation and honor, but she'd had no idea how bad the world was. If stuff like that, happening totally independant of her family who would have no reason to pretend it doesn't happen, could go on without her noticing, what had her family successfully managed to cover up that she never heard of? How much work would it take to truly redeem the Schnee legacy?

Ruby was proving an even more infuriating partner than she thought possible. Not just in her bubbly, airhead attitude, or the fact that she was even more of a kid than she had thought. No, the problem lay in how much she was smashing Weiss's view of the world so casually. How could somebody who experienced...that still be so carefree and happy? Still be nice? Despite what most people would think, Weiss did not have a very good childhood. Her attitude, aggression, and scar had to come from somewhere after all. But compared to what Ruby said? It was...still very bad, but in an almost equal way. How do you compare one problem with another? Can you fairly comparing two peoples radically different problems to say who had it worse? Especially if you were one of those people being compared? What is the unit of measurement for suffering?

Weiss was a genius. One of the things about beings genius was that you could connect dots much more easily than others. You could extrapolate, correlate, analyze causation, do pattern recognition, and critically analyze information. Most people learned facts. Geniuses like Weiss learned how to learn. Most people would hear Ruby's story and learn _'Ruby was sexually harassed as a child. How terrible.' _Weiss, being brilliant, could build from there. _'She's not ashamed, so nothing serious happened. But she also didn't consider it so weird or out of place that she feels shame it happened to her at all. Sexual harassment is a lot worse and a lot more common than I thought. What are the police doing that this stuff can happen? Do they really just not care about the poorer neighborhoods that much that this sort of thing can happen to a twelve year old routinely? What is wrong with people?'_

Sometimes, being smart sucked.

* * *

"Admit it, we're lost." Ruby muttered, sitting down and fiddling with some leaves.

"No of course not, I know exactly where we are." Weiss huffed.

Ruby did not look convinced at all. "And that would be?"

"We are..." Weiss trailed off slightly, before continuing in a more strained tone "going to the forest temple."

"Oh my god Weiss, just admit that we're lost." Ruby moaned, standing up. "Or are you too 'little Miss Perfect' to ever just admit you're wrong?"

"I'm not delusional. I know I'm not perfect. Not yet anyway." Weiss turned on her heel and walked off. "But I'm still leagues better than you."

"You don't even know me." Ruby muttered, following after her, oblivious to the large shadow that was following them, and getting larger, and larger, and larger...

* * *

Weiss still wasn't fully sure how they wound up clinging to a giant nevermore; it was honestly a jumbled blur of feathers, panic, and Ruby grabbing her and claiming she had a plan, but she was sure of one thing. "I told you this was a terrible idea!" she shouted in order to be heard over the rush of wind on feathers.

"We'll be fine, quit worrying!" Ruby called back, one hand clinging to the bird while the other kept her hood up for some stupid reason. Was she that concerned with how she looked that she'd take an insane risk like clinging to a flying Grimm with just one hand? I mean the situation was crazy enough without handicapping yourself.

Weiss just glared at her. "Oh I am so far beyond worrying."

"In a good way?" came Ruby's reply.

Weiss had to struggle to keep from just gawking at the stupidity of that question. "In a bad way, in a very bad way!"

"Well then why don't we just jump?"

"What are you crazy?" Weiss demanded, turning to look at her partner...only to see that she had already jumped. Her partner who had thrown them onto a giant nevermore, hung on one handed so she could keep her 'cool' look, and had now jumped from about a hundred feet in the air from said giant flying Grimm as if it were a casual mode of transport. "Oh my god she is crazy. I have to have the craziest partner in the history of Beacon."

* * *

"Hey Ren, watch me ride this ursa!" Nora shouted.

"Wait, what!?" Ren asked. Really though, it should be expected. After all, he had the craziest partner possible.

* * *

Rahu Malice was a huge guy. At five ten and two fifty, he was just huge. His heavy black ō-yoroi had golden nozorashi as a mon. His menpo bore the continence of a lion. His kabuto, demon horns. His weapon was a golden spiked black tetsubo that doubled as a cannon. He looked every bit as intimidating as he could manage. His partners reaction to his appearance had been _"Oooh, black samurai armor and a gold broken skull picture on your chest. How much is your scary looks compensating for cupcake?" _After a full five minute spar had proven to both of them that they were sufficiently tough enough to be partners with each other, they had continued on their way. It was only upon their first encounter with the Grimm that they ran into a serious problem. They'd been able to come up with a solution. It was a crappy solution, but it worked so far. There was just one major problem. "I'm bored." the giant complained as he sat upon a log and watched.

"Well then you should have done better at rock paper scissors." his partner replied, impairing the last of the beowulf with her bident. "And you don't hear me complain when you get a group." Alexandria Woden looked as far from her partner as most could imagine. At only five feet tall, the pale slender girl looked like she maybe topped a hundred pounds if she'd eaten a large dinner, wore heavy winter gear, and carried her weapon. She wore no armor, or even what most would think of as battle attire. A powder blue tank top that left her midriffs exposed served as her top, a dark yellow sixteen point star her symbol. She also wore brown short shorts with a simple black cloth belt and a pair of heavy leather sandles, with straps going up to mid thigh. Unlike a lot of girls that would wear such things, it clearly was just for comfort and not to show off her (nonexistent) assets. She had short chopped brown hair, and brilliant blue eyes. In short, she looked a bit like a cross dressing guy. "Seriously, did I say anything when you got the last two groups in a row?"

"No. You just took a nap." Rahu pointed out. "I have never seen a huntress so lazy."

"I'm not lazy. It's called knowing my limits and pacing myself." Alexandria snapped as she retracted Asura's shaft and tines so that the weapon could be easily clipped to her belt. "Anyway, hail to the fighters! Their glory theirs even in defeat!" she shouted as she brought her left fist over her right breast in salute to the Grimm, even as the first ones started to slowly crumble to dust before her.

Rahu just groaned at the pointless showmanship. "Do you have to do that after every group you kill?"

"Of course." Alexandria stated proudly. "A true warrior is gracious in victory. So...what do you say we start heading for that temple area?"

"Eh, I don't know. I was hoping to fight a few more Grimm first." Rahu complained, scratching the back of his helmet.

"Yeah, but it's been a while and I do want to get back in time for lunch. Plus it's not like we won't run into Grimm on the way." Alexandria pointed out. "Come on, please? I'll let you have the next two fights, I promise."

Getting up, Rahu stretched a bit. "Now that's more like it. Come on, let's get going." That there would even be two more fights was a given. After all, they didn't have to go looking for the last five fights at all. They'd all come to them, drawn by their negativity. There would be plenty of fights. Just the way they liked it.

* * *

"How could you leave me?" Weiss shouted from her perilous perch on the nevermore's claw, having lost her grip on its feathers and having to grab the talon to keep from falling. She couldn't hear what the dolt was saying in response, didn't the idiot realize that with that distance they'd need to shout to be heard? But then it didn't really matter as the nevermore took a sharp turn and she lost her grip, sending her plumitting to her doom. _'If I die because of this, I am so killing Ruby.' _

She was saved from having to figure out the logistics nightmare of how to kill somebody after dieing when, oh god not him. Sigh, when Jaune Arc leapt forward and caught her. "Hey there. Just dropping in?" The universe quickly punished him for that bad pun as he suddenly realized he had overshot the tree branch, causing the two of them to crash to the ground.

Weiss landed on top of the creep, taking the time to check her nails to hammer in the fact that she didn't like him. "My hero." As much sarcasm as she had put into her voice, she did have to admit that his leaping catch had severely lessened the damage she would have taken. Turning him into a human pillow was just a bonus in her mind. It was only when she saw Phyrra being flung through the air that she noticed the deathstalker. "Well, that's not good." Seeing Ruby just haphazardly running at the thing was even worse. "Oh my god I know she's crazy but-" She cut herself off as she started speeding forward. The nevermore had pinned Ruby's cloak down and she was about to be killed. Using her dust, Weiss quickly froze the deadly stinger before it could do anything, and turned to face her partner...whose hood was down.

A hundred little things clicked for Weiss right then. Why she was 'the Schnee' the faunus was relieved to not have to work with. Why some creeps though she owed them for treating her like a person. Why the police didn't give a damn. Why she wasn't used to dealing with people. Why she was more willing to risk death by falling from a nevermore than to let her hood slip and show Weiss what she was. Ruby was looking at Weiss then, and she looked far more scared of the Schnee than the Grimm. _'This is Father's legacy. Schnee being the name of just another type of Grimm.' _

"Weiss...I..." Ruby spoke weakly, hesitantly.

"That was wreckless, immature, impulsive, and crazy." Weiss chided her. "You're childish, you act without thinking, and let's not even get started on your so called fighting style." Seeing the faunus...Ruby cringe, she continued. "And I know I can be...difficult to work with. But if we are going to get out of this, we are going to have to stop fighting and work together." With a quick sword swing, she cut off the shaft of the feather pinning Ruby's cloak, setting the garment free. Seeing Ruby's shocked face, she smiled as best as she could as she offered a hand up. "So, you willing to stop the whole go it alone deal?"

Hesitant in taking the offered hand, Ruby accepted the help up. "I just...I wanted to show you I could handle things. So you'd respect me."

"You dolt." Weiss grumbled. "You got into Beacon two years early. If you acted like it instead of trying to show off, you'd impress me a lot more."

"...you don't mind that I'm?" Ruby asked, eyes full of hope and fear.

Any further conversation was cut off though as Jaune pointed out the returning nevermore. Weiss assessed the situation. "We'll finish this conversation later. Right now, we have to focus on getting out of this. Our objective is right here."

"Weiss is right." Ruby agreed. "All we need to do is grab a relic and get back. There's no point in fighting these things."

"Run and live. That's a plan I can get behind." Jaune said. He and Ruby went over and grabbed a chess piece, Jaune a white rook and Ruby a white knight.

With the deathstalker starting to break free from the ice, the group made a hasty retreat toward the cliffs.

* * *

Weiss sat down next to Ruby in the cafeteria; the faunus still had her hood down, seeing no point in hiding it now that so many had seen her ears back in the forest. The pairs that had come back and turned in their 'relics' were instructed to wait here while their results were evaluated and the remaining students returned. At least they served lunch while you waited. Looking at her partner's tray, Weiss noticed something. "What, no cookies? I'd figure you for a sweet tooth."

"They're chocolate chip." was Ruby's succinct reply. Seeing Weiss's confused look, she elaborated. "I can't eat chocolate, it's poisonous to me."

"Oh...sorry." Weiss said, looking at her own cookies with guilt. "Um, any other stuff I should know not to buy in case I ever do a snack run for the team or something?" Seeing the odd look Ruby gave her, she explained "I'm trying to be...nice."

Putting down her ham sandwich, Ruby sighed. "Okay, just say it. You hate being partnered with a faunus. I know about your family."

"No. You don't." Weiss said, keeping herself...restrained. She was talking to somebody scared of her last name, the name she had sworn to redeem. "You know some of it. I...don't hate faunus. It's hard but I don't."

"Hard to not hate people because they look different?" Ruby asked darkly. "Real mature."

"That's not what I meant." Weiss snapped, accenting her mood with a pound on the table. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "I am being mature. It would be wrong to blame every faunus for what the White Fang does. Them, I hate. Hating the other faunus would be just...wrong." Seeing Ruby's startled look, she continued "The White Fang has been targeting the company and...my family and friends for as long as I can remember. Cousins, friends, board members, their families, one day they'd just disappear and we'd never hear from them again. My father...was always furious. It did not make for the happiest of childhoods."

Ruby was very quiet. "...I hate the White Fang too."

Weiss was surprised at how solem Ruby sounded. "Why? What did they do to you?"

Ruby sighed. "They used to be the good guys. Faunus that stood as an example for the best of us. Then they started doing, well, things like what they did to your family. Bombing public places. Riots. Attacking peaceful _faunus_ protestors for not sharing their ideals. Nobody thinks faunus can be heroes anymore."

Things were quiet after that as they ate in uncomfortable silence.

"...so do you have a tail?" Weiss asked seemingly out of the blue.

Ruby was just stunned at the non sequitur. "Do I what?"

"I'm sorry, was that rude?" Weiss asked. "I just wanted to end the awkward silence and it was the first thing that popped into my head. I'm sorry if it was inappropriate."

"It uh, it sort of is." Ruby hedged. "I mean if a faunus doesn't show it off you're not supposed to ask, but you didn't know. And for the record, no tail, just the ears."

"Ah. I'll keep that in mind when talking to other faunus. I...don't have much experience with you guys. So...I'm sorry in advance if I do anything wrong." Weiss said, doing her best not to cringe at how awkward and forced that sounded.

"...there are several things I can't eat." Ruby said, bringing the conversation full circle. "Avacado, chocolate, grapes, macadamia nuts, and onions and garlic. Especially not chocolate or grapes. And yes, that includes grape soda and raisins. And any type of chocolate, even white."

"I see." Weiss said, nodding. "If you eat any of that stuff by accident, what should I do?"

"Chocolate or grapes? Hospital, stat. The first hits my liver like an ursa as a petting zoo, the second can cause kidney failure." Ruby explained. Not seeing Weiss's look of horror at the idea that her partner could have a slow death brought on by grape soda, the dog faunus continued "Avacado? Leave the bathroom clear, I will be stuck in there a loooong time. Onions and garlic will make me anemic and tired."

"And macadamia nuts?" Weiss asked, having already decided that a good sized chunk of her snack choices had to go, no questions asked.

"Doctor for some pain killers. This one I have had first hand experience with instead of just a doctor's note. It happened to me once when I was eight and ate the wrong kind of cookie at a birthday party. Not fun. Intense body pain and a high fever. My legs also stopped working for a bit, the muscles spasiming. A small amount, like what was in that cookie, isn't going to kill me. Heck, I'd probably have to eat a whole jar for that to happen. But it will still be a very sucky day for everyone involved." Ruby explained.

"Duely noted. If whoever we wind up on a team with has a problem with our diet, they can starve." Weiss said.

Ruby looked confused. "Our diet? Um, Weiss, I don't mind if you eat that stuff, really. Just label it and stuff. I don't want you ending up like Yang, feeling guilty about eating chocolate or something just because I can't."

Weiss blinked. "You really don't mind?"

"Weiss, I have never had chocolate." Ruby pointed out. "I literally have no idea what it tastes like. I can't feel jealous because I have no idea what I am missing. I know chocolate is supposed to be sweet and stuff, but there is so many other types of sweets I really don't care. Honest."

"Oh thank god." Weiss said, breathing a sigh of relief. "No so much for the chocolate thing mind you. I just really love grape soda."

Ruby chuckled a bit at that. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

"Lead by Ruby Rose." Ozpin finished.

Yang had a look of horror stamped on her face. "Oh no."

"What's wrong?" Blake asked, curious.

"Ruby is a dog faunus." Yang stated, the realizing how that might sound elaborated "A dog faunus who's never been in a ranked group before and just got handed 'alpha'."

Blake's eyes widened like saucers at the implication of a canid with no experience dealing with that instinct being put in command. "Oh fu-"

* * *

**AN: Next chapter, see what happens when you put a person with a hierarchy instinct in charge of a group.**

**For those upset about what I put in Ruby's backstory, I did research on harassment of minors. I actually had to bump up her age for when the harassment started to make it less squick.**

**Also, here is the team profile from my OC team. You'll be seeing more of them soon.**

**Team Name: ARMS**

**Members: Alexandria Woden, Rahu Malice, Mahogany Brown, Silvia Odyssey**

**Leader: Silvia Odyssey**

**Year: First**

**Speciality: Defense Equipment **


	4. Alpha vs Leader

**AN: Hey all! I have to say I love the turnout for the OC contest. On the first day alone I had several great entries! I'm almost up to a dozen! Keep it up guys! After we get through the Badge and the Burden stuff we'll be in original territory for chapter 5. Then in chapter 6, I'll announce the winners!**

**Also, when it comes to this episode in fan fics I have to ask, why do people treat Port's class was the first/only class that day? The next scene has a freaking sunset after all. So it was the last class of the day. So it makes you wonder what else Ruby did all day to get Weiss to snap like that...**

* * *

Weiss was dead asleep. She still hadn't fully adjusted from Atlas time, and her new bed wasn't as comfortable as her old one, so falling asleep hadn't been easy. Now she was able to finally get some much needed, peaceful sle-

"Wake up!" Ruby shouted, blowing hard into a whistle and sending her teammate sprawling to the floor in shock. "No more time to be lazy!"

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted as she stood up. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" she demanded as she tried her best to glare at...her leader. Who was already dressed in her uniform.

"An hour later than when I woke up everybody else." was Ruby's smug reply, gesturing to Blanke and Yang who were also fully dressed. "Weiss, I get that you're still on Atlas Time, but we need to ween you off that and get you on schedule with the rest of us. So I'm willing to let you sleep in a little for a couple of days, but then you're getting up with us."

Weiss grumbled. "Fair enough, but I had trouble getting to sleep last night so"

"Not my problem." Ruby snapped. "You're a big girl, you can manage your own bed time. And if you're a little tired that means you'll just fall asleep at a better time tonight. Anyway, you're up for the bathroom. Wash up and get changed, we have a lot of work to do."

Weiss glared a little, but had to acknowledge Ruby had a point. Emerging half an hour later and feeling much better she asked "So what are we going to be doing first? Practice? Study?" Her stomach growled ever do slightly, reminding her of something more basic. "Breakfast?"

"Nope. We're going to unpack our stuff and set up our room." Ruby said.

Yang looked horrified. "No breakfast?"

"We'll get it later. Look guys, we need to unpack anyway. We might as well just knuckle down and get it done while we don't have anything else we need to do. Once classes start were going to have assignments, spars, training, and studying. Our free time is going to plummet. I'd rather not have to spend it getting our stuff ready. Getting it done now means that our free time will stay free time."

Weiss had to admit Ruby had a good point, but delaying breakfast for it seemed a bit much. Still, she might as well do it. It took almost an hour to get everything unpacked, and fix the curtain Ruby had somehow sliced with her scythe. The end result was "This is a disaster. There isn't even room for our beds." Weiss was happy to mentally note she contributed by far the least to the cluster...as long as you didn't count her extensive dust store and maintenance equipment for Myrtenaster. A mechanically complex and versatile dust intensive weapon took a lot of upkeep after all. The cylinder had to spin freely and smoothly, yet lock solidly with no play. You had to keep dust residue from building up, ensure there were no dust leaks, keep the chambers filled, and ensure some of the more unstable mixtures don't start separating back into component parts. Still, all that dust and gear was necessity, not frivolity like Blake's books (including a couple of more questionable nature Weiss was sure she had spotted), or Yang's poster, or Ruby's "Is that a squeaky toy?"

"It's a stress ball." Ruby growled. "I am not a dog."

"I'm sorry I didn't mean-"

"I have an idea!" Yang said quickly as she tried to defuse the situation. "Bunk beds!"

Ruby nodded in agreement. "Right. Let's get to work."

"Bunk beds seem a little bit dangerous. Shouldn't we vote on this?" Weiss suggested.

"No voting! I'm leader so what I say goes! And I say bunk beds!" Ruby shouted, stamping her feet a bit. "I'm in charge not you!"

"Woah Ruby chill!" Yang interjected. "You're not five, cut the temper tantrum."

"Right sorry." Ruby said, looking a little flustered. "I'm just trying to lay down the rules here. No voting, I'm in charge. Now let's get to work on those bunk beds."

Weiss sighed. This was going to be a loooong day.

* * *

Weiss resisted the urge to groan and pass out. Having missed breakfast because they had spent so long making those "bunk beds" and rearranging the room that you had to rush not to be late for their first class was a terrible start to the day. She was tired, sore, and hungry. It was all Ruby's fault. She got distracted and didn't plan things through properly. Hopefully she would learn from this and do better in the future.

Weiss's stomach growled, and it was apparently loud enough for the gray haired girl in front of her to shoot Weiss a look of wry amusement. Weiss glared back to no obvious effect, as the girl just went back to messing with a yoyo and not listening to Professor Oobleck as he gave his introductory speech. True the lecture was mainly on the syllabus and some stuff about why history was important more than anything that would be on a test, and something about kidney's but that was probably just the lack of sleep and hunger talking, but the girl could at least pretend to listen. Then again Ruby wasn't setting the best example either with her doodling.

Weiss definitely needed some sleep and some food. She was drowsy enough that Professor Oobleck seemed to just vanish from one part of the room and reappear in another. If she couldn't follow one guy walking about Weiss was in for a rough day.

* * *

Blake was trying her best not to snap at this point, as Oobleck continued his introduction to the course while Ruby ignored him as if he were beneath her notice. Leaning to her partner she whispered "Okay, how are her instincts this strong that she can just throw a tantrum like that and be a dictator? I've worked with canine faunus before and they weren't that bad. Ever."

Yang sighed. "Ruby's never been in charge before, so she has no idea how to do it."

"And she's never worked with a group ever? Or worked under anyone who could serve as an example?" Blake asked, eyebrow raised to show her doubt.

Yang fidgeted a bit. "Okay look we'll talk at lunch. Ruby always goes to the bathroom before lunch."

Blake wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that her partner had her sister's bathroom schedule memorized.

* * *

"I can't believe she actually went to the bathroom." Blake said, amazed. She truly had an unbelievable partner...only time would tell if that was in a good way or a bad way.

"She's done it for years. Why would she stop now?" Yang countered.

Rubbing her temples, a sign she probably had a headache, Weiss sighed. "Look, you said you were going to talk about Ruby's instinct thing."

Blake bristled. Figures the human would refer to it as an 'instinct thing' like she was dealing with an animal.

Yang looked a bit uncomfortable. "See the thing is, Ruby hasn't had anyone to show her how to reign in her instincts, not really. It's mostly been a lot of trial and error on her part, and me and Dad pointing out when she's doing something. Ever since her mom died she...hasn't really had any other faunus in her life to help her deal with this. Add in that she's never been in charge before and you get, well..."

"Little Miss Temper." Blake said, now rubbing her own temples. "That doesn't make sense. Faunus instincts are not that extreme or strong, it's more minor influence." Seeing the looks she was getting from the two humans she quickly added "Look, I was a bit insensitive and asked about it alright? I was a dumb kid. Still it was nice of you guys to adopt Ruby after her mother died." Yang seemed like the good sort of human who could look past the species barrier.

Yang looked confused, then made a small oh motion with her mouth. "Oh no no no, Ruby is my half sister. We have our dad, Taiyang, in common. He remarried Ruby's mom and well, kid."

Blake was stunned. "Wait, Ruby's a hybrid?" That was quite rare. It was hard to find a faunus and a human who would love each other enough to be good friends, let alone marry and have kids.

"You have a problem with that?" Yang asked in a dangerous tone, leaning in sharply.

Realizing how that sounded, Blake did some major backtracking. "No no no nothing like that! I just...didn't know that was possible." she lied, praying that pleading an actually very common ignorance would cover up her shock.

Surprisingly the Schnee came to her defense. "I can understand your shock. I never heard of anything like that either. Are there any special, um, problems we should be aware of since she's a hybrid?"

Yang shrugged. "I don't think so. Ruby takes very strongly after her mom, to the point where I don't think there is any difference between her and a regular faunus besides her dad not having fuzzy ears."

Blake wanted to head desk. How could her partner be so insightful and sensitive one moment and sound borderline anti-faunus with unthinking statements the next? Why oh why couldn't she have just partnered with Ruby? Sure they were cat and dog, but first and foremost they were faunus. They were above such petty differences as Blake being influenced by the noble, proud, and graceful cat while Ruby drew influence from the dumb, hyperactive, toilet drinkers. Faunus were better than that.

* * *

Ruby chased after Weiss, their last class of the day having ended in suitably dramatic fashion, with Wriss having slain a boarbatusk. But then her partner had glared at her and stormed off, and now Ruby wanted some answers. "Weiss, explain yourself now. What is with this attitude? Tell me now."

"That! That is what my so called attitude is about!" Weiss shouted. "Oh my god even during the fight you were telling me what to do! All day it's been "do this, do that, don't comment, don't argue, just do what I say" and I can't stand it anymore!" Turning around, she got in Ruby's face. "Thanks to you we missed breakfast, which you never apologized for I might add."

"I didn't think it would take that long. And anyway, I'm in charge, I'm supposed to tell you what to do." Ruby argued back. "Weiss, seriously, what is this about? I thought we worked through this in the forest?"

"No, we worked through you being a faunus." Weiss sneered. "Nothing was said about you being a leader, because you aren't. What have you done with the position? Boss us around, make mistakes, yell at us, and not even trust us to know how to freaking fight! This is a hunting school, who could ever get in here if they can't fight!? You've done nothing to earn being leader, and since becoming leader you've done nothing to show you deserve it. Did you pay attention to one teacher? Because I don't remember a class where you werent doodling, napping, or otherwise goofing off! Ozpin made a mistake putting you in charge." And with that, Weiss stormed off.

Ruby stood there for a bit, trying to process everything Weiss had said. Then she smelled something very familiar. Pure black extra strength coffee. "So, Professor...did you make a mistake?" she asked without even turning around.

"My dear, I have made more mistakes than any man, woman, or child on this world, be they human or faunus." Ozpin replied. "Appointing you leader wasn't one of them. I do however think I know what mistake you made. If an expert in mistakes could give you some of his hard earned knowledge?"

"Sure. You're supposed to learn from mistakes right?" Ruby said, ears slightly drooping as she admitted she needed help.

"The mistake you are making is that you are acting like an alpha and not a leader." Ozpin took a long sip of coffee and let that sink in. "Tell me Ruby, do you know what an alpha is?"

Ruby cocked her head to the side in confusion. "Um, yeah. It's the dog or wolf that leads the pack."

"Wrong. Understandably wrong, but still wrong." Ozpin took a smaller sip before he continued. "An alpha dog is the strongest, biggest, meanest in the pack. He is an unintelligent beast in charge of other unthinking beats. He is a tyrant, his rule enforced by physical violence against his weaker subjects. None of them are his superior in the only way that matters. Raw brutal strength. A leader is a far different beast. For starters, they are not a beast, but a thinking person. As is the people they lead." He total a longer drink, and stood there quietly.

Realizing he wanted some feedback, Ruby asked "But isn't a leader still the one in charge?"

"Yes, but it is a very different sort of "in charge". A leader must prove they are worthy of being in charge. Raw strength doesn't matter as with the alpha. The people you lead can form opinions, and cast judgement on your calls. Unlike the alpha who can just beat down all opposition, you have no way to make them listen to you. You have to make them want to listen to you." A coffee sip. "A true leader is one who makes others come to them because they want to listen to them. An alpha's influence only extends as far as their fangs. As a leader you have to be an inspiration to others. How can you expect your team to work hard if they don't see you working harder? How can you expect them to listen to you unless you've proven you have sound judgement? Being leader requires you you to be a better person than you were than the day before."

"I...I'm not sure I can do that." Ruby admitted hesitantly. "I...don't know how."

Ozpin took another long sip before her replied. "Ruby, dear. No one is born knowing how to be a leader. It is only after they don that most prestigious badge that they learn if they can handle the burden. But when you've born it for long enough, you get a sense of who else can carry that great weight. I believe you can do it." And with that the enigmatic headmaster left.

It was only when she was halfway to the library that Ruby realized she still didn't know what Ozpin smelled like, just his coffee. She had the weirdest feeling this was on purpose, but she couldn't imagine why.

* * *

Weiss took a look at her partner, passed out in the top bunk, worksheets and books spread out in a late night cram session. Additional books from the library with titles like Better Communication, The Art of Leadership and How to Delegate proving that Ruby had been willing to listen to her earlier temper tantrum. Professor Port had been right, she hadn't given Ruby a fair chance, judging her an unfit leader on her first day when none of them had bothered to tell Ruby they had a problem with the way she was running things. As soon as she was made aware of the problem, she'd assigned herself extra work to figure out how to fix it. Weiss had seriously underestimated her.

Waking up from Weiss's gentle nudging, Ruby looked shocked. "Weiss! I get you where right now I mean I was just yelling and-"

Weiss cut off any more babbling with a raised hand. "How do you take your coffee?"

"Huh?" Taking a large sniff Ruby's eyes widened. "When did you have time to-"

"Speed brewer. Makes a pot in less than thirty seconds. How do you take it?" Wiss repeated. So Ruby had a good sense of smell? That was nice to know.

"Uh, four creams and sugars?"

"You are such a kid. Hold on." Weiss went over to her unit and expertly whipped together Ruby's "kiddie coffee"in only seconds, delivering the mug to her still stunned leader. "Look, I...did not handle things the best way they could have been. I should have sat down and talked with you instead of letting things keep on going until I exploded like that."

"Weiss, you were right too. I wasn't being a leader, I was being an alpha."

Ruby said. "But I promise, no more being an alpha. I'm not going to bite the heads off people that don't listen to me, I'm going to be the kind of person you want to listen to."

"You're off to a good start I'd say." Weiss added as she looked at the piles of books, a very slight smile gracing her face. She wasn't fully sure what Ruby meant by "alpha versus leader", but the gist was easy enough to understand. "And if you promises to be the best leader you can be, I promises to be the best teammate I can be."

"Deal." Ruby said with a smile. "We both have a lot of work to do don't we?"

"Oh you know it." Weiss said with a chuckle. Walking to the bathroom to change into her sleepwear, she added "You know, I always wanted bunk beds growing up." She wasn't sure why she shared that. Maybe it was part of that trust that Professor Port spoke of as a natural consequence of following someone else. Or maybe it was a natural consequence of their little bonding moment. Or maybe she was going crazy. Oh well, only time would tell. And worst come to worst she could probably make a straight jacket look fabulous. White was so totally her color after all.

* * *

**Yeay team bonding! And for now we are done with the canon, break out the new material! Up next, action! Ruby has her first duel in Beacon, and her opponent is...**


	5. Duel of Deva-station

**AN: Here we go people! Brand new territory, no more canon rails for a good long while. Now then, *gets behind "Anti-Fan Rage barrier"*, on with the show! What, why am I doing this? Um...no reason? Oh, also, from here on out, swear mode engaged. I am finding that I need curse words to be able to properly display people's attitudes, emotions, and dialog in a realistic and appropriate manner. I'm not going to be gratuitous, but it will be present. Fair warning.**

* * *

"Alright guys, I know I was a giant pain yesterday." Ruby apologized. "But I learned my lesson. No more bossing you around for no reason. No more telling you what to do all the time. No more trying to do everything myself." Stopping to wolf down a pancake, she added "And definitely no more skipping breakfast when we can just do these sort of talks here."

"Amen." Yang agreed with a chuckle, digging into her own stack of pancakes, which was about the size of the rest of the teams breakfasts combined. "But seriously, I don't care if you are my sister. Make me miss breakfast again and there will be consiquences."

"Right. So, I decided to divide up our team duties based on what I think we'll do best. If any problems crop up, we'll change it when the time comes." Ruby continued. "I am still leader, and what I say still goes. However when it comes to non-time sensitive stuff I might put it to vote if it seems appropriate. However, for quick snap stuff what I say goes. I'm going to be doing my best to get things done right. If you have a problem with an order, wait until we have time to sit down and discuss it. In the middle of something is not the place to discuss problems."

"Sounds reasonable." Weiss said, nodding and doing her duty as best teammate. "You are still our leader after all. And being willing to listen to us is a massive improvement, right girls?" Seeing the other two nod in agreement, she turned back to Ruby. "So, what's my job?" She didn't expect much, as she and Ruby didn't get along too well, but whatever it was she would do her best.

"I'll get to that. First thing's first, Blake." Ruby stated, getting the other girl's attention. "You seem very studious. You're in charge of keeping track of school resources. Tutors, labs, private study rooms, library databases and catalogs, whatever. If we need it, I need you to know how to get it. Rules for the stuff, hours available, where it is, how to book or reserve them if needed, if there are any fees, that sort of thing. If we need them, I want us to be ready to use them. Now I don't expect you to memorize it all or something, but keeping a file folder on the stuff and noting down any extra tricks or the like you might pick up."

"Got it." Blake said, reading a thick book as she ate, barely looking at Ruby in acknowledgement before getting back to her book.

Weiss bristled slightly inside. She was studious, and very meticulously organized...but it wasn't the most important job, Blake needed something to do, and for all Weiss knew Blake could totally eclipse her own skills in finding out how to maximize their school resources. Hopefully whatever Ruby had in mind of her would be better.

"Right, Yang. You're in charge of physical fitness. Gyms, trainers, practice fields, equipment. Same sort of deal as with Blake, but for physical things instead of academic things. You do a ton of core and strength training, so you'd learn this stuff anyway so I might as well make it your job."

Flashing her sister a thumbs up as a response, Yang nodded and mumbled something around her mouthful of pancakes.

"Yang, chew your food." Ruby said with a sigh, lightly facepalming in response to an all too familiar sight. "I am not saving you from choking this early in the morning."

"Aw come on Rubes I'm not going to-" whatever Yang was going to say was cut off by a fit of coughing as her food went down the wrong tube. True to her word Ruby didn't go to assist as her sister cleared out her own pipes.

Weiss had a very flat look. "Are you sure Yang can do the job? Because at the moment it seems like she's not even qualified to eat breakfast."

"Her...quirks aside," Ruby hedged, "Yang really is an expert at physical fitness. She didn't get to the point where she benches a couple hundred pounds by being bad at it." Ducking the pancake projectile her sister had just coughed out with disturbing ease suggesting plenty of practice, Ruby continued "She's also a really good trainer if you can put up with her. A tall order, but it pays off."

"You know it. Check the gun show." Yang smirked, flexing her rather impressive arms, straining the material of her school uniform.

Weiss sighed. As weird as Yang seemed, if she was an expert it made sense that this would be her job...but that left Weiss unsure as to what her own job could possibly be. "Ruby, I don't think there's anything left for me to do."

"Sure there is Weiss, and it's the biggest job of all." Ruby exclaimed, pausing for dramatic emphesis. "You are my second in command."

Weiss's brain stopped working for a second as she tried to process this. "...what?"

"Second in command." Ruby said, nodding. "Normally this means you don't do much since I'm here, but if I'm not available and leader type decisions need to be made, you're next in line. You're going to need to be sharp on fighting tactics and strategy, as the most likly time I'm going to be out is if I'm knocked out in a fight. So you are going to be working alongside me on that. Making hypothetical scenarios, thinking up different tricks we can use, that sort of thing. Weiss, are you okay?"

Weiss's response was to gurgle and then faint in shock. This had just not been her week.

* * *

Blake decided it was time to tell Ruby the truth: that she was also a faunus. The Schnee was being checked over by the nurse for her fainting spell, and Yang had stayed in the cafeteria in order to eat more. They were the only two in the medical lounge at the moment. It was the perfect time to come clean and get Ruby to understand why she wanted to stay hidden. Ruby had tried to hide at first as well, so she'd probably be very understanding. "Hey Ruby, can we talk for a minute?"

Glancing up Ruby turned back to the newspaper she was reading. "Sure just let me finish this page and oh those bastards!" Ruby snarled, bearing her teeth and growling as her ears pulled sharply backwards, highlighting how pissed off she was.

"What's wrong?" Blake asked, concerned. Ruby being ticked off was not a good place to start this conversation.

"It's those White Fang bastards." Ruby growled. "They've been tied to a rash of recent and widespread theft from stores here in Vale."

"Is there proof, or are they just suspects because they're faunus?" Blake asked. As much as she wished to sever ties with her old associates, she still held out hope that they'd see the errors of their ways.

"Well...it only says suspected, and there isn't much evidence." Ruby admitted. "Still, I wouldn't put it past actually being those bastards."

"Still, no evidence? Sounds like they're just being blamed because they're faunus." Blake argued.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "No, they're being blamed because they're the freaking White Fang, it's not a faunus thing. You don't have to say nice things about them just because I'm a faunus. I hate their guts."

The bottom seemed to drop out of Blake's stomach at those words, and she could feel her ears starting to twitch nervously. Brining that to a quick halt, she asked "Why would you hate the White Fang? They're fighting to end the oppression of faunus."

"It's not that simple Blake." Ruby sighed, massaging her temples, and appeared deep in thought as she took her time before continuing. "Okay, Blake. I appreciate that you are a supporter of faunus rights. That is very open minded and fair of you. Yang says you've worked with faunus before so I'm glad we've made a good impression. And yes things still aren't the best for us, but the White Fang is going about it all wrong. They aren't fighting for faunus rights. They're murderers, liers, thieves, and hypocrites who will attack and kill faunus that don't follow their ideals. The Fang scare the shit out of me. Blake, I am from a mixed family. Do you know what the Fang would do to my family? My sister and father are just as much a target as Weiss and her family are, because we are defiling their "faunus versus humans" idea."

Blake was stunned. She never thought she'd meet a faunus who hated the Fang so much. Or feared them. They were supposed to be the champions of the faunus.

Ruby sighed. "Sorry I went heavy there, but yeah. Lots of faunus hate the Fang because they give us a bad name. The old White Fang used to be heroes. The new Fang is a disgrace to the name. If I ever get my hands on whoever caused this shift, I am going to do the world a favor and rip his throat out." she ended, growling and bearing her slightly elongated canines.

"I uh, I should go check up on Yang." Blake said, hurrying out the door. Ruby definitely wasn't in the right mood to hear this. And also Blake would have to make extra sure her past affiliation was fully buried.

* * *

"Way to scare the supporters Ruby." she mustered in self recrimination. Ears perking up, she turned around happily. "Weiss, you're okay. What happened?"

Weiss flushed a bit. "The nurse said it looked like a combination of mental, emotional, and physical fatigue. Coupled with the shock of you making me second...I thought you were scared of me."

Ruby could understand that sentiment. "Weiss, I picked you for the job because when we were in the forest, you were the one who realized we just had to grab the relics and run, and we didn't need to fight the Grimm. Admittedly we wound up doing that anyway and then my idea wound up saving the day, but that's not the point." Smiling in assurance, Ruby continued. "Weiss, I picked you because you have a cool head under pressure, speak your mind, and aren't afraid to call me out if I make a mistake. Those are all qualities I need in my second in command to help me stay sharp and become a better leader."

"Ruby I...thank you." Weiss said, smiling...before it turned into her customary frown. "Of course, you're going to need all the help you can get. This is sure to be a stressful job."

Ruby sighed. And they had been doing so well too. "Tell you what, I'll let you borrow my stress ball if you're feeling overwhelmed."

"I don't need a squeaky toy to feel better Ruby."

"It's not a squeaky toy!"

* * *

Yang wasn't sure what to make of Weiss and Ruby pointedly not looking at each other as the day wore on. It wasn't like they weren't talking to each other...which actually made it a bit weirder come to think of it. It was like they were physically displaying their dislike for each other even as they tried to be civil. Clearly, something had to be done. "Double headlock!" she shouted as she got both of her victims under her arms.

"Ack! What are you doing you brute!" Weiss shouted in panic.

"Yang, let go!" Ruby whined.

With a shake of her head and a manic grin, Yang replied "Nope. Not until you two stop acting so weird and stop fighting. You're partners, you can't afford to be fighting." Seeing that her charges were struggling more than listening, she added "If you two don't start getting along in the next thirty seconds, your faces are going in my pits." She knew that would shut both of them up, especially her sister with her sensitive nose.

Weiss blanched. "You wouldn't."

"She would." Ruby admitted. "Truce?"

"Yes, very yes." Weiss said.

Grinning, Yang let the two go. "There, that wasn't so bad. And since we have to rush to class, no time for revenge. I am such an evil genius." She really felt proud of herself for having resolved the issue with no chance of any real backlash.

Blake smirked. "Well genius, did you remember our next class is full contact sparring?"

Yang's grin dropped from her face as she studied Weiss and Ruby's grins, the two no doubt planing what to do to her if they managed to get her in the arena. "I have chosen poorly."

Blake's smirk grew as she rolled her eyes. "Come on partner, time to face the music."

* * *

"And that concludes safety regulations and proper sparring conduct." Professor Goodwitch said. "Now then, we have enough time left for a few quick matches. Traditionally, the leaders of every first year team have the first spars, representing their teams pride and skill."

"Whew, I am safe." Yang muttered. As strong as she was, Yang knew full well that her speed was an issue, and against a speedster like Ruby she was at a severe disadvantage. Weiss she wasn't so sure about, but the heiress didn't have the build of somebody who stood there and took it.

"Of course it should only take two classes, including this one to cycle through all of you. Then open sparing will begin." Glynda continued. "Matches will begin now, and will be random matches. First up is," pushing a button on her scroll she read "Ruby Rose of Team RWBY versus Ruby Ro-I thought they fixed that." Pushing the button again, she smiled. "There we go. Cardin Winchester of Team CRDL versus Jaune Arc of Team JNPR."

Seeing the two make their way to the stage, Yang had only one thing to say. "Well that is just not fair."

"I don't know." the dark skinned girl in the trench coat behind her commented. "Skinny boy might have a killer semblance for all we know."

Jaune's partner, the Phyrra Neikos, shook her head while looking worried. "He doesn't know what his semblance is yet. He will be reliant on only his sword skills."

The dark skinned girl shook her head sadly, adjusting her newsboy hat a bit so it rested more comfortably on her dreadlocks. "Poor kid. Anyone want to bet on how long he lasts? Closest time gets the pot. Willing to put fifty on a one minute knockout."

The pale girl next to her in the loud tank top glared at her. "Mahogany, you insult a warrior without seeing his metal. It is unbecoming to speak so ill of one who has dedicated themselves to battle."

"Sheesh, pull the stick out your butt Alexandria. Well my team has no takers." Mahogany sighed, before leaning forward. "So, RWBY, JNPR, any takers?"

"If you'll match, I'll put a hundred on him not even lasting thirty seconds." Weiss butted in, Mahogany grinning and nodding.

"Weiss!" Ruby chided.

"That's cold. Put me down at twenty for at least two minutes." Yang said. Seeing a couple glares shot her way, she shrugged. "What? I'm going longer than the others. I believe in his ability to last a while."

"Jaune may just surprise you." Phyrra muttered. "He did help take out a deathstalker after all."

And then the match began. Cardin took a vicious swing with his mace. Jaune tried to block with his shield, but it was held a bit to high and Cardin was able to adjust his swing to take Jaune full in the midsection, sending him sprawling halfway across the room.

"And I win." Weiss said smugly, only to see Mahogany's stunned face. "Was him losing that fast that big of a shock?"

"Check the aura Schnee." Alexandria sugested.

Doing as she sugested, Weiss's jaw dropped. "You have got to be kidding me."

That vicious blow had only knocked off a quarter of Jaune's aura.

* * *

"It was a pleasure doing business with you all." Yang said smugly, discreetly counting her winnings.

Weiss wanted to groan and just sink out of sight. How dare that creep have so much aura that he could last longer than he should have. "He was still pathetic." she muttered, feeling a need to justify her bet.

"Agreed." Alexandria nodded solemnly. "He swings his sword like a cleaver with no real control, and his shield handling is terrible. His aura made up for some of that, but he has serious issues."

"He just might not have a lot of dueling experience." Ruby pointed out. "There is a huge difference between fighting a person and fighting a Grimm. I mean he fought a deathstalker so he can't be clueless."

"A fair point." Rahu, the messy haired giant of team ARMS, said. While not the tallest in the class, his bulk made him seem much larger. Adding to the illusion was that he somehow seemed to have an undersized uniform, the fabric stretched and straining under his mighty bulk. "Still, most of us started on human opponents then moved on to Grimm. Something is off here."

"Jaune showed excellent tactical and leadership qualities during initiation." Phyrra defended. "He might be more suited for support than direct combat."

"Well he told me on his first day that he's using his great grandpa's weapon." Ruby admitted. "He wasn't too happy. I got the impression it was the weapon he was stuck using more than one he loved to use."

"Ouch, legacy weapon?" Mahogany asked. "I mean yeah I inherited my gun from my dad, but at least the weapon fit me. If he can't handle his family's style or it wasn't suited to him, he should have tried to get a different kit."

Ruby winced. "I, uh, don't think he could have afforded one."

In the ensuing awkward silence as Jaune made his way back to his seat Weiss actually felt a litte guilty at the thought that Jaune might have been stuck with an incompatible weapon because he couldn't buy anything else. Weiss had grown up with seven buttlers attending her whims. _'No Weiss, be rational. You and your family have nothing to do with Jaune's being poor. You have no reason to feel guilty for being rich. You didn't choose to be rich any more than they chose to be poor. You have nothing to feel guilty about.' _It was very important to keep in mind that her family wasn't responsible for all the world's woes after all, even if those White Fang terrorists insisted otherwise.

"Well that was, certainly a quick match." Glynda said, feeling oddly vindicated in her belief that Jaune wasn't ready for this level of training. "Next up is Ruby Rose of Team RWBY versus Silvia Odyssey of Team ARMS." She hadn't even finished her announcement when Ruby was already by her side, a cloud of rosepettals having followed the speedster down. After a few moments, Glynda got annoyed. "Miss Odyssey, get down here now."

"Fine fine." the silver haired girl, Weiss recognized her from yesterday, said as she walked down to the arena floor at a leisurely pace, still playing with that yoyo. "Don't see what the point is, I'm going to win in the end." Weiss noted that this Silvia wore relatively little armor, just a silvery chest plate, grieves, and bracers. She also had a silvery round shield...

Weiss did a quick double take. "Phyraa, did she model her armor after yours?"

"Probably. It is a famous and well designed set associated with being a prodigy, and she'd love to convey that idea." Alexandria said with a shrug. "Though she's circlet free so her head's more vulnerable. Also, I think you missed one other important addition."

Looking again, Weiss noticed the large silver canister attached to the back of Silvia's skirt like a fanny pack, a large blue square cut water crystal set in the center. "That...looks important."

"It is." Mahogany said. "Still good luck to Ruby, we'll be rooting for her."

"No, really, we will." Alexandria quickly added. "We hate Silvia that much."

Rahu just shrugged. "Eh, she's not bad in a scrap. Terrible attitude, but she can fight and that's what matters in the end."

"She can't be that bad can she?" Blake asked, only to have her jaw drop when she saw what Silvia was doing as she entered the arena. "She's not doing what I think she's doing is she?"

Looking, Weiss felt sick. "If you mean useing her yoyo to walk the dog as she comes in to fight Ruby, yes she is."

Yang just glared at Silvia, eyes glowing red. "That bitch. Tear her a new one Ruby!" She shouted that last part, clueing a couple of the less astute students in on the fact that the yoyo trick was a deliberate insult.

"Like I said," Rahu leaned back, seemingly undisturbed, "terrible attitude."

* * *

Ruby really wanted to get this match to start. "Is that supposed to be a joke?"

"No." Silvia replied. "It is supposed to be an insult. I myself however do find it amusing. Arf arf."

"Thats enough of that young lady." Glynda scolded, glaring. "I sugest you put that toy away and get your weapon ready so we can begin the match."

Reeling the yoyo in, Silvia looked bored as she explained "This is my weapon, Deva. I am at the ready."

* * *

"She named her weapon Diva? Well she has the right attitude for it." Yang quipped.

"Not dēva, it's pronounced dāva." Alexandria explained. "They sound alike but they mean vastly different things."

"So what's Deva mean then?" Jaune asked, honestly curious.

"It means God." Phyrra explained. "She named her weapon God."

Mahogany nodded. "Yeah, her ego is that big."

* * *

Ruby growled. "You're seriously underestimating me if you think you can win with a toy."

Silvia looked rather sternly at her opponent. "You will not call my weapon a "toy" again. Your defeat will already be humiliating enough."

"Alright enough you two." Glynda interjected. "Save it for the official match. Ready," Taking a second to look, she confirmed the Ruby had her scythe held at the ready while Silvia had slipped her shield onto her left arm and had her right hand cocked and ready to throw her...weapon. "and begin!"

Ruby imediatly dashed forward with a vicious swing, only to have Silvia walk forward inside the blade, grabbing onto the shaft with her left arm. Having been trained on what to do for just this situation, Ruby pulled the trigger so that the recoil would propel the scythe into her opponent's back...only for Silvia to release her hold and turn inward, brining her shield to bear to halt the attack while at the same time releasing her yoyo in a hooking arc to strike Ruby in the aside of her head before quickly retraction the yoyo and ducking under the scythe blade before Ruby could reinforce her attack with more power.

"Augh, that actually hurt." Ruby muttered, surprised.

"Of course it did. It's a weapon." Silvia said, as though she were explaining the obvious to a child she didn't particularly tolerate. "It's aura channeling combat grade alloy. What did you think it was, cheap plastic?"

Ruby didn't have a quick answer that didn't make her sound dumb, so she kept her mouth shut and dashed backwards. If her opponent was a close quarters specialist, then a few sniper shots should change her tune. Or at least they would if she wasn't so good at blocking the shots with her shield. _'Still, as long as I keep my distance she can't attack me with the dumb battle yoyo, and she can't block forever.' _Of course that is when Silvia spun around before releasing her yoyo horizontally at Ruby. Only her enhanced faunus senses and high speed reflexes let Ruby dodge the miniature buzz saw that would have impacted her face otherwise. "What the hell?"

"Did you really think I had no ranged option?" Silvia asked sardonically. Spinning her weapon another spinning blade of earth grew from the side. "I use rock dust to grow blades upon Deva. I can use them in melee," she demonstrated with a quick sawing into the floor, which then turned into an around the world that flung the buzz saw at a quickly dodging Ruby "or I can fling them to attack at range. You think I wouldn't consider such things?"

"I did kind of hope you over specialized yeah." Ruby admitted, before vanishing in a flurry of rose petals, only to reappear with a vicious swing that finally hit Silvia, knocking her off balance slightly. However, before Ruby could capitalize on this her opponent had already thrown a counter attack, though it was thankfully without the aid of dust. Moving Crescent Rose to block, Ruby recognized the trap too late as the yoyo wrapped around the shaft, seeking to yank her baby from her grasp. Struggling to hold on, Ruby growled out "You know, just because you have a neat toy doesn't mean you are going to win."

Silvia was infuriated. "Do not call it a toy you mutt." A burst of smoke and embers from Deva put an end to Runy's struggles to keep her weapon, as she had a much more immediate concern.

"Augh! My eyes!" Ruby couldn't even open them they hurt so much. What kind of move was that? It bypassed her aura! And it really freaking hurt!

* * *

"Stop the match, stop the match!" Weiss shouted, glyphing her way down to the arena floor. "Ruby needs to get to medical, now!" Being an expert on dust, she knew that ash dust to the eyes was extremely dangerous. While your aura would protect you from the heat, the ashes themselves was another matter entirely, usually bypassing defenses unless you had a well trained aura and could see the attack comming. Or goggles.

"Agreed." Glynda said, happy to end the match after a move like that. "Miss Odyssey, what in the world made you think a blinding attack to the eyes was acceptable?"

"I wasn't aiming for it to hit her eyes when I activated the ash dust." Silvia explained cooly. "It was just supposed to be a startling move to make her reflexively drop her hedge trimmer. That it blinded the mutt was unintentional."

"Mutt? Why you, I'll deal with you later. Hang on Ruby." Weiss said, putting her partner in a fireman's carry as she moved, using her glyphs for boosted speed. Weiss knew she had to hurry, blinding attacks like this were very dangerous. While ash dust did produce heat and could cause minor burns, it's primary use was for attacking eyes with a bursting cloud of burning soot. Unless treated properly, there could be serious and permanent damage. While it would be arguable that Silvia had indeed intended for it to just be a startling move, the amount of aura and dust used for the attack strongly sugested otherwise. Silvia had tried to blind her partner on purpose. There is no way that this would be allowed to stand.

* * *

**Well that's over and done with. Send me all your hate, it only makes me stronger! Let me quench my thirst upon fan tears! Next chapter, meet more new people! The OC contest will be announcing its winners. And having the leaders fight each other. Also next chapter, Weiss tries to find a way to make Silvia pay for what she did.**

**And now that they've all been introduced, for your reading pleasure, the profiles of the members of my OC team ARMS!**

**Name: Alexandria Woden **

**Age: 19**

**Gender: Female**

**Species: Human**

**Weapon: Asura, a bident with twin edged tines. The shaft is fully adjustable, ranging in length from two to twelve feet or anywhere in between. It has a day projector located between the tines that can be used for a quick spray assault. This is typically loaded with shock dust, but she also will use freeze or burn instead.**

**Semblance: Enhanced sight. Alexandria can modify and improve her eyesight in a variety of ways, eyes shining brightly while she does so. Binocular micro or macro scopic vision, night vision, thermal vision, and incraced acuity being all the tricks she knows at present. Sadly her attempts at x-ray vision have all failed so far.**

**Physical description: Having been ravaged by disease, Alexandria isn't much to look at. At five feet tall, she is smaller thn even the juvenile Ruby, and skinnier to boot. She has short cropped light brown hair and bright blue eyes, and her skin is sickly pale. Her choice of attire is a powder blue tank top with a dark yellow sixteen pointed star on the front, her emblem. She wears tan short shorts and high wrap sandles.**

**History: The third daughter of the head of the Woden Food Group, Alexandria lived a life of casual ease in luxury, never having much ambition. Her life of comfort came to a screeching halt however when she was eleven and became seriously ill. Stapled into machines and treated for days, then weeks, then even months and years, Alexandria experienced fears both real and imaginary. When lucid from fevered dreams of nightmares, she had faced the very real possibility that she would die having accomplished nothing with her life, with no legacy for anyone to remember her by. She would die alone and forgotten. However she did survive and at age fifteen was free of her sick bed at last, having been confined there for almost four years. Deciding to do something worthwhile with her life, Alexandria trained herself in the rt of combat, seeking the ideal of glory in victory. Though she was being admitted to Beacon later in life than most, this is largely due to the fact that she needed those extra years to make up for the years that disease ravaged her body.**

**Personality: Alexandria demands respect, and don't you dare use a nickname with her. Though she hides it well, she has a strong sense of fear, acting in a brash and somewhat flamboyant manner to hide this fact. She also often tries to be the center of attention or otherwise be important. She seems lazy to some as she spends a lot of time napping, but that is just a consiquence of her recovery leaving her with pitiable stamina, a flaw she is very much aware of and working on. She is very confrontational, and believes strongly in the idea of "glorious, honorable combat". On the faunus issue, she is apathetic and doesn't care one way or another.**

**Style: Alexandria is a mid range fighter, using Asura's length and adjustability in unusual ways. She doesn't so much stab you with Asura as let Asura stab you itself, letting the weapon extend and retract at her opponent while she just holds it steady. The occasional sweep is thrown in as well, relying on the bladed sides to slice an opponent open. This seemingly lazy style is intended to help Alexandria preserve her limited stamina. In addition it help keep her opponents at bay, as she lacks the aura required to take any truly serious blows. As such she relays mostly on dodging for defense, and is startlingly flexible when it comes to bending and twisting out of the way, almost like a snake. If hard pressed or dealing with a more long ranged opponent, Asura can be used to produce a spray of dust discharge, usually in the form of a short range electrical discharge, but a flamethrower burst or freeze spray are also possible if the right dust was loaded earlier.**

**Team Relations: Rahu is the best teammate ever: they both love fighting and their styles compliment each other so well. Mahogany is okay, but the obsession over her gun is a bit creepy. Still, she provides good ranged support. Silvia can go die in a fire, her condescending attitude grateing Alexandria in all the wrong ways. If it weren't for the sheer gap in their physical abilities, she would have tried kicking Sylvia's butt a while ago.**

**Stats:**

**Strength - C**

**Endurance - D**

**Speed - C**

**Agility - A**

**Intelligence - B**

**Aura - E**

**Dust - C**

**Other: Alexandria is based off of three main concepts all tied into the core concept, that of Alexander the Great. Alexander was one of the greatest generals of all time, known for his love of honorable combat, and genius intilect. He was also rumored in his own lifetime to be a demigod, his true father Zeus who had taken the form of a snake. Alexander died young due to disease, but his legacy lives on to this day. Alexandrite, a stone named after him, has a sickly dark yellow color to it. Alexander's army's symbol was a sixteen pointed star. Alexander was ironically worried nobody would remember him and that he would be forever overshadowed by his massively successful father. Asura is one of the paths of reincarnation in Budism, and is the level of "demigod" or "jealous god", as they are not as powerful as a full god, or deva, and as such asura are usually quite surly and combative. Woden, also known as Odin, was the king god of the Asier. Having traded an eye for wisdom and magical powers, he now actually saw more than when he had two eyes, earning him the nickname of "the All Seeing All Father". He also possessed a magical spear called Gungnir which could never miss and was quite lethal; Gungnir was the original source of lightning in storms before Thor came about. The bident is the symbol of Hades, god of the earth and the dead in Greek mythology. Hades is the older brother of Zeus and Posidon, whose symbols are a thunderbolt and a trident. As the lord of the earth, he also had dominion of what was found within it, meaning all the worlds riches of gold and jewels were his. As such Hades was also the god of wealth. Hades was arguably the nicest of the Greek gods and helped many a hero on their great quests.**

**Name: Rahu Malice**

**Age: 17**

**Gender: Male**

**Species: human**

**Weapon: Naraka. A proper tetsubo, it is taller than he is, before adding in the handle on this black bat like weapon. The top can open up for cannon fire, and though the powerful shots are a bit hard to aim when they do hit devastation follows.**

**Semblance: Growth. Rahu becomes enveloped in black mist as he increase in size. He can currently add about 25% to his volume, effectively doubling his mass due to the square cube law. While this makes him stronger and tougher, it also cuts into his speed and agility while making him a larger target.**

**Physical description: When not increasing his size, Rahu is already a whopping five ten and weighs in at two fifty without his armor. His body is rather rough and scarred from his training. His hair is black and rather messy, covering the top half of his face when he's not wearing his helmet, though this doesn't seem to impair his vision at all...somehow. It seems like Rahu somehow got the wrong size school uniform, as it looks rather tight and almost ready to burst on his large frame. In battle he wears a set of black heavy samurai armor, complete with a lion fang face guard and a demon horned helmet. His symbol is a golden nozarashi.**

**History: Rahu is very close lipped about his past, not out of fear or shame, but because of how boring it is. Middle child of a middle class family in the middle of Vale, he likely would have wound up just another civilian middle manager if he hadn't, on a whim, signed up for some self defense classes. Rahu found he had a tallent for fighting, and what's more he really enjoyed it. He trained for several years and competed in several tournaments where he gained a reputation as a vicious and ruthless fighter. A reputation reinforced by street brawls against gang bangers and street toughs. Having grown bored fighting punks, Rahu enrolled in Beacon in order to fight some real enemies he could go all out on without risking a DQ or the cops.**

**Personality: If it ain't fighting, Rahu ain't interested. Even food doesn't appeal to the teenage Goliath that much. Anything else practically fades into the background by comparison.**

**Style: Brute force. Rahu attempts to just crush his foes fast, hard, and without mercy. Knowing he doesn't have much in the way of speed or agility, he relies on his size, armor, and aura to protect himself from damage. For speedy foes who like to keep their distance, the cannon's firepower is the proper answer. Overall his style is simple but effective.**

**Team Relations: Alexandria is fun and loves fighting too. Mahogany is a bit weird, and can't even give him a decent fight when they spar. Silvia is fun to fight, as she constantly pushes him harder than just about anyone else he's ever fought. Shame about her attitude. He doesn't comment on people joking about him being the only guy on a team full of girls. As far as Rahu is concerned, they aren't guys and girls, they are warriors...and Mahogany.**

**Stats: **

**Strength - A**

**Endurance - A**

**Speed - D**

**Agility - D**

**Intelligence - D**

**Aura - B**

**Dust - D**

**Other: Rahu are demons of rage and hatred from Hindu mythology. By their nature they seek to rip the world in half, and grow larger the more pain and suffering they cause. Naraka is the lowest state of reincarnation in Budism, and is literally a hell state. Unlike western hell, this is only a temporary state of punishment until all of a persons sins from their previous life have been paid for, at which point they reincarnate. The nozarashi, or weather beaten skull, is a symbol of crule death, the body unburied and left to rot in the elements. The katana, while being the iconic samurai weapon, was actually largely ceremonial and few samurai actually used it in serious conflict. Tetsubo were far more commonly used, as we're bows, spears, and axes. This is because katana required a lot of work to myster properly, while the other weapons were far easier to learn at a level of practical use.**

**Name: Mahogany Brown**

**Age: 17**

**Gender: Female**

**Species: human**

**Weapon: Preta is a heavy dual variance multi-purpose tactical assault gun. What that means is that it is a large gun with two rotating chambers, front and back, that enable the weapon to be very flexible in its use. The back chamber is a revolving five chamber cycle, each loaded with different dust canisters for a variety of elemental attacks and effects. What justifies the extra size and weight is the front three state cycle mechanism. This rather unique attachment lets one switch between single fire grenade like blasts, wide spread semi-auto shotgun, or a full auto assault rifle. The ability to adjust element and attack method makes Preta an extremely adaptable weapon. It also makes it finicky and need a lot of matinance. The grenade setting can also be used to alter terrain.**

**Semblance: Drain Aura. Mahogany has the ability to drain aura from other living things via touch with any part of her body, no direct skin contact required. While this won't let her go above her normal maximum aura reserves, it will replace any lost due to fatigue, damage, or heavy dust use. As Grimm do not have aura, she must instead draw it from plants, animals, humans, and faunus. She largely sticks to the first two for obvious reasons, though in a duel she is quick to use it to cause large swings.**

**Physical description: Dark skinned with short black dreadlocks, she is of average height and weight for her age, with an unremarkable build. Her outfit consists of a brown trench coat over dark gray pants, a white dress shirt, a dark gray vest, and a blue tie. She also wears a brown newsboy cap and leather gloves, as well as brown boots. Her outfit has had more than one person wondering if she has mob ties.**

**History: Oddly enough for such rumors, the answer is yes, but not like people think. Mahogany isn't involved with the mobs, but her father was. Charles Brown was a mid level mob enforcer. Unlike many in his position, Charles did not die due to the actions of criminal rivals, nor did he wind up getting caught by the police. Instead while crossing the street one night he was hit by a random drunk driver. Mahogany would not find out about her father's criminal career for another three years when she accidentally stumbled upon a hidden compartment in her Father's old office, Charles having posed as an insurance agent for a shell company for years. Inside the hidden compartment was a journal of her father's career, undertaken origionally to cover his own father's debts, and later support his family. Also within, however, was Preta, an experimental weapon her father had been developing with the hope he could find a buyer for the design so he could quit the criminal life. Having read this, Mahogany decided she was going to do her father one better. Patenting Preta, she set out to become a huntress to become a living testimony to the gun's capabilities. So that it would be worth a whole lot more to manufacturers to lease the production rights.**

**Personality: Mahogany is not very aggressive, preferring to avoid a fight if she can. She's not the most assertive either, content to fade into the background. She idolizes her father, who did what he had to for his family, but hates criminals in general, blaming them for forcing her father into the situation in the first place. She is very protective of Preta, as the gun is not only hard to maintain and repair but is also her father's legacy. She knows she's nothing amazing by hunter standards, and feels very insecure about it as a result. She is also very stingy and cheap, and often looks for ways to get her hands on more money, or at least some free stuff. With gambling and odd jobs of course, she's no thief. She has a tendency to be overly dramatic when anything bad happens to her.**

**Style: Mahogany usually opens up with a full auto spray of whatever element she thinks will work best. If an opponent handles that she usually switches over to shotgun mode to try plastering her foes while also planning her next move. She usually switches to grenades then, causing terrain altering features like fire pillars, ice walls, and quicksand pits to shape the battlefield and hinder her foes if the sheer force of the shot doesn't destroy them. Being a more or less dedicated marksman, she makes sure to stay well away when fighting, relying on her speed and reflexes to keep her well away from her opponents...unless she can "snack" on their aura.**

**Team Relations: Mahogany has the worst team ever. Alexandria and Rahu are battle nuts. Silvia is so far above Mahogany it's not even funny. Why her? Really, why her? This is just so unfair!**

**Stats: **

**Strength - C**

**Endurance - C**

**Speed - B**

**Agility - B**

**Intelligence - C**

**Aura - C**

**Dust - B**

**Other: Preta are another of the incarnation levels of Budism. The hungry ghost level, preta are the result of excess greed and desire. With pencil thin necks and empty stomachs bigger than the rest of their bodies, preta are literally made to suffer until they can make up for the crimes of the past. Mahogany is a dark brown hard wood often used for making string instruments such as violins, cellos, and basses. Cases for these instruments have traditionally been used to smuggle weapons, resulting in the iconic image of gangsters pulling tommy guns out of such instrument cases.**

**Name: Silvia Odyssey**

**Age: 17**

**Gender: Female**

**Species: human**

**Weapon: Deva, a combat yoyo. Is has dust chambers in each half, one obtaining burn dust and the other rock dust. The connector rod of the yoyo surges a dual function as a mixing port, enabling her to mix such things as ash or explosion dust by combing her other two elements.**

**Ambrosia isn't really a weapon on its own, being a cylinder used to produce generous amounts of water. However, it is intended for use with Silvia's semblance.**

**Her shield is unnamed.**

**Semblance: Water control. Silvia is able to telikinetically manipulate the liquid form of water quite freely.**

**Physical description: Silvia has shoulder length gray hair, though she insists it is silver, that matches quite well with her gray/silver eyes. Her silvery armor is indeed modeled after Phyrra's, with the silver being 'better' than bronze a deliberate statement. She is taller than normal at five feet seven inches. Her weight is healthy, and she has a decent amount of muscle tone. She also has a figure that would make just about any girl short of Yang feel insecure.**

**History: For such an egomaniac, Silvia is oddly quiet about her past. She just entered Vale one day, said she came from outside the kingdoms, and applied for Beacon. She passed quite handilly, claiming it was natural tallent alone.**

**Personality: Silvia has a gigantic ego. She is rude, condescending, and in general a very unpleasant person. She is also a bit lazy and unmotivated. She feels that with her raw natural tallent she does not need to train, and so far nothing has proven a big enough challenge to even shake that attitude just a little. In fact she considers her "fellow prodigy" Phyrra to be the only person around her age that could even give her a decent challenge. She is racist against faunus.**

**Style: Silvia is highly adaptive. Capable of short, mid, and long range combat, direct attacks, curving attacks, disarmament, blinding bursts, fire rings, and rock bindings Silvia has a trick for just about everything. And that's before you add in torrent trips, or just suffocating her opponent via drowning in a head clinging orb of water. Able to judge and move between these various options quickly, efficiently, and instinctually are what makes Silvia so dangerous. Her ability to use her aura to mix dust on the fly is also very impressive, as few experienced Huntsmen and Huntresses could do so, though this is currently limited to only mixes involving rock and burn dust due to her familiarity with them. Still, it has the potential for further growth if she bothers to acquire deeper familiarity with other dust types.**

**Team Relations: They are beneath her.**

**Stats: **

**Strength - B**

**Endurance - B**

**Speed - A**

**Agility - A**

**Intelligence - A**

**Aura - B**

**Dust - S**

**Other: Deva is the highest level of reincarnation in Budism, and indeed translates as God. Deva achieved their posistion via good karma from their past life, but do not need to remain ultra benevolent once they have reincarnated to keep the position. Deva are often arrogant and demanding, as they are as far above Asura as Asura are above humans. The Odyssey is the tale of the voyage of the Greek hero Odyssius. Odyssius famously blinded a cyclops with a hot burning wooden stake at the start of his journey. This earned him the wrath of Posseidon, king of the seas who commanded all water, from streams to raging floods, and was the Greek god of evil. Posseidon also had domain over earthquakes, infringing on what should have been his brother Hade's domain. Silvia means "mysterious woman of the woods". Ambrosia was the drink of the Greek gods.**


	6. Contest Anouncements

**Hello everyone! This is just a temporary chapter and an announcement regarding my OC team contest. Two major announcements.**

**1: Due to the unexpectedly large number of high quality entries, I have decided to expand the number of winners to FOUR teams, so all your chances of winning just went up! Consider it a reward for there being so many of you that are just so creative!**

**2: However, as I am entering final selection, I will now be imposing a deadline on submissions and edits. All entries and edits must be submitted by April 20 at midnight EST. Once it's the 21st it is too late. This is soly due to the need to be able to sit down with these entries and pick the best. I didn't think I'd have so many quality entries that this would be a real problem.**

**So yeah, there will now be more winners, with a submission deadline. Both of these came about because of the high quality shown by all you loyal readers. Good luck to you all, my next post will be chapter six, featuring the winning teams.**


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